New Study Recommends 60 Minutes of Moderate Intensity Exercise for Women
Women, looking to keep their weight under control, should exercise 60 minutes a day, according to a recent study.
The Journal of the American Medical Association has issued this recommendation for women to stay healthy and to maintain weight.
Dr. I-Min Lee, lead author of the study, who is an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University, says "I don't want people to throw up their hands and say 'I can't do it,' We wanted to see in regular folks -- people not on any particular diet -- what level of physical activity do you need to prevent weight gain over time. It's a large amount of activity. If you're not willing to do a high amount of activity, you need to curtail your calories a lot. You can still do much for your health with a lower level of exercise. But if you want to exercise for weight control, it's 60 minutes a day."
The study focused on about 34,000 US women, whose average age was 54 at the beginning of the study, which spanned for over 13 years. The study was based on their physical activity and weight and health factors, including smoking and menopausal status. It found that the average weight gain for these women was 5.7 pounds. However, those women who were of normal weight at the beginning of the research successfully maintained the same throughout. The study says the reason behind this was that they were engaged in moderate-intensity activity for about 60 minutes every day.
However, the recommended exercise seems to be conflicting with the advisory issued by the federal government – according to which 150 minutes of weekly exercise is enough to prevent weight gain.
The study recommends moderate-intensity activity for women, which includes walking or hiking, yoga, bicycling, aerobic exercise, dance, jogging, running, use of exercise machines, racquetball, tennis, squash, and swimming. The research does not consider housework and gardening as part of the exercise.
While women need more exercise not to gain weight, men require lesser exercise in this regards, various studies have shown. However, the research does not say that this is the only factor that will help women maintain a normal weight. There can be various other factors that might contribute.
