Two Hours of Weights a Week: A “Shield” for Women’s Hearts

– For years, physical activity for heart health has been linked mainly to walking and aerobic exercise, writes salute.eu.

But a new study suggests that strength training may also play an important role in protecting women’s cardiovascular health.

The study, conducted on more than 117,000 women, analyzed the link between resistance exercises and the risk of serious cardiovascular events.

The exercises included the use of weights, elastic bands, gym machines, or simply body weight.

According to the results, women who did at least two hours a week of strength training had a relatively 20% lower risk of major cardiovascular events and 44% lower risk of heart attack, compared to women who did not do this type of activity.

In the case of stroke, the study did not find a significant reduction in risk.

The authors stress that strength training should not be seen as a replacement for aerobic activity. The greatest benefit was observed in women who combined strength exercises with aerobic activity and less time spent sitting.

Impact on arteries

The authors suggest that resistance exercises may also influence several mechanisms involved in the development of coronary disease.

Training may improve fat metabolism, blood vessel function, glycemic control, and inflammatory processes.

These factors are linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the process in which plaques form on artery walls.

However, the researchers make an important clarification: the study did not directly measure either the size or the stability of atherosclerotic plaques.

According to expert Mattioli, the authors assume that improving fat metabolism, endothelial function, inflammation, and blood sugar control could slow atherosclerosis and favor the formation of more stable plaques.

But this remains a biologically plausible hypothesis and not an effect directly proven by the study.

For this reason, it cannot be said that weight exercises necessarily make plaques in the arteries more stable.

What can be said is that physical activity improves some of the factors linked to the development of atherosclerosis and coronary disease.

The study thus supports a combined approach to physical activity, where strength, aerobic activity, and reducing sedentary time can be part of an overall strategy for cardiovascular health.