By We all know exercise is one of the most powerful tools to protect the heart. But recent studies suggest something interesting: men may need substantially more physical activity than women to obtain the same level of protection against cardiovascular disease and early death. That doesn’t mean men benefit less—it means the “dose” of exercise required may differ between sexes.
What the Evidence Shows
A large observational study of over 400,000 U.S. adults (ages ~27-61) found that women who exercised regularly had about a 24% reduction in risk of death from any cause, while men saw about a 15% reduction.
Further, women achieved the same benefit in roughly half the time of men: about 140 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity gave women an ~18% lower risk of death, vs. men needing ~300 minutes for the same ~18% effect.
When it comes to fatal cardiovascular events specifically, women who exercised regularly had a ~36% reduced risk, whereas men had a ~14% reduced risk.
In other words: women appear to get more “bang for their buck” from exercise, or less exercise time is needed to gain the benefit. From the flip side, this suggests men may need to exercise more (or with greater intensity) to achieve comparable protection.
One recent media summary even states that men may need twice as much exercise as women to lower heart disease risk.
So: “Men need to exercise twice as much as women to protect their hearts” is a working simplification of several research findings.
Why Might This Difference Exist?
There are several physiological, anatomical and behavioural factors that could explain the difference.
1. Body composition and muscle mass
Men generally have greater lean body mass, larger hearts, more fast-twitch muscle fibres, and higher resting metabolic rates compared to women. That means, for any given movement or exercise, the absolute workload (on hearts, lungs, and muscles) may be different in men vs. women.
2. Cardiovascular and respiratory differences
Men tend to have larger lung capacity, greater blood volume, higher maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂max) on average. Women may therefore derive a relatively greater fractional benefit per unit of effort because their body “works harder” for the same movement.
3. Metabolic and energy substrate differences
Some research indicates women rely more on fat oxidation during moderate exercise, whereas men rely more on carbohydrate oxidation; women might have metabolic advantages under certain conditions.
4. Hormonal and vascular differences
Estrogen and other sex-hormone differences may play protective roles in women’s cardiovascular systems (especially pre-menopausal). Women have higher capillary density per unit muscle, which might translate into better micro-vascular adaptation to exercise.
5. Behavioural and health-status differences
Men historically have higher baseline risks of cardiovascular disease: more visceral fat, earlier onset of coronary disease, more often risk-factors (smoking, hypertension, etc). So the “hill” men must climb may simply be steeper. Also, the research shows fewer women than men meet strength-training guidelines, yet women get higher relative benefit from each session.
Implications for Heart Health in Men
Given this evidence, there are several key take-aways for men who want to protect their hearts:
- Aim for higher volume or intensity of aerobic and strength training than the “minimum” standard guidelines suggest. While general guidelines (e.g., 150 min moderate aerobic per week + 2 strength sessions) are a good baseline, men may benefit from 300 min+ moderate or higher intensity to maximise cardiovascular benefit.
- Incorporate strength training: Men may require more sessions (e.g., 3/week) to reach benefit thresholds, whereas women in studies attained near-max benefit with ~1 session/week.
- Consistency matters: The benefits of exercise accumulate with regularity over years. The large study followed participants for decades. Sporadic activity is less powerful than sustained effort.
- Lifestyle risk-factor control is still essential: Exercise is only one piece—men still need to manage blood pressure, lipids, body weight (especially visceral fat), smoking, diet, stress and sleep.
- Monitor cardiovascular health proactively: Because men may start at higher risk and need more “dose” of exercise, regular check-ups (with a cardiologist or physician) make sense, particularly if there are additional risk factors.
Why Men Cannot Simply “Do the Same” as Women
It might tempt some to say: “Just exercise the same as women, and you’ll be fine.” But the data suggest otherwise. If a man and a woman both do the same 140 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, the woman on average will get a larger relative reduction in mortality risk than the man. So men might be under-serving their cardiovascular systems if they settle for only minimal activity.
Men’s higher lean-mass, larger heart/lung capacity and higher baseline risk means that for each minute of moderate exercise, the relative “stress” or load may be lower than for a woman doing the same task. Thus, men may need more minutes or higher intensities to push cardiovascular adaptation.
Also, the plateau effect: The large study found that for moderate activity, the benefit in men peaked at ~300 minutes per week; diminishing returns were seen beyond that. Men should therefore aim to hit that (or higher) threshold as a realistic target.
Caveats and Context
- These findings are observational, not randomised exercise-intervention trials. That means causation cannot be definitively proven.
- Exercise prescription should always be personalised: age, current heart condition, joint health, prior fitness, and other comorbidities matter. A 50-year-old unfit man cannot immediately jump to 300+ minutes of vigorous activity without risk.
- Women do still benefit enormously from exercise—this is not about making women smaller targets, but recognising sex-specific differences.
- Other factors (diet, genetics, environment) also influence cardiovascular risk; exercise is a major modifiable factor, but not the only one.
- The “twice as much” wording is a simplification—it may not mean exactly 2× for every man. Individual variation is large.
Summary
In summary: recent research suggests that while both men and women benefit substantially from regular exercise for heart health, women may attain the same cardiovascular benefits in less time than men. Consequently, men often need more exercise—either in duration or intensity—to achieve equivalent protection. This difference likely arises from physiological (body composition, heart/lung size, metabolism) and baseline-risk differences.
For men concerned about heart health: think beyond the generic “150 minutes/week” guideline. Consider aiming for higher volume (around 300 minutes moderate activity/week or equivalent), ensure regular strength training (3×/week if possible), and pair exercise with comprehensive lifestyle management.
Exercise remains one of the most potent tools for cardiovascular protection—but men may need to work a bit harder (or a bit longer) to reap the full benefit.
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