No extra efforts! Women are naturally more fit and athletic than men

Ontario, December 5: It’s proved! Women don’t need to take extra efforts as study shows that ‘women naturally are stronger than men’. According to the study carried out by the Waterloo University of Canada, Oxygen absorption and muscle oxygen extraction between 18 young men and women of similar age and weight during treadmill exercise. Women can process oxygen faster than men when they start to exercise in treadmill; Women consistently performed well than men with around 30 per cent faster oxygen uptake throughout the body.

 

Research found that women can transfer oxygen from the blood to muscles 29% faster than men while moderate exercising. The rate at which the muscles absorb oxygen is termed as VO2 of Oxygen uptake is an important measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.

Muscles need oxygen to the burn fuel to produce energy. When you exercise and breathe in, oxygen goes from your lungs to haemoglobin in RBCs which then goes to the muscles.

Led by researcher Thomas Beltrame of Canada's University of Waterloo, a team of scientists compared oxygen uptake and muscle oxygen extraction (how quickly the muscles extract oxygen from the bloodstream) between 18 young men and women of similar age and weight during treadmill exercise.

In all cases, the nine women exhibited about 30 percent faster oxygen handling throughout the body. This means that they were less likely than the men to accumulate molecules that are linked with muscle fatigue and poor athletic performance.

"The findings are contrary to the popular assumption that men's bodies are more naturally athletic," says Beltrame. "While we don't know why women have faster oxygen uptake, this study shakes up conventional wisdom. It could change the way we approach assessment and athletic training down the road."

The rule is, men max out at a higher VO2 than women. The paper reveals that men beat women in terms of maximum aerobic power by 15% on an average. However, when it comes to daily exercises like brisk-walking, treadmill test, women have an edge. This was exactly the opposite of the expected result, said the study author and U of W kinesiologist Thomas Beltrame said.