Men may need about twice as much weekly physical activity as women to achieve comparable cardiovascular benefits, a new study suggests.

The research, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, highlights notable sex-based differences in how exercise affects heart health — and points to a possible need for more tailored public health strategies that account for those differences. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week. Females who met or exceeded that threshold had a greater reduction in risk compared to males who did the same.

However, the study also identified a “gender gap” in both adherence to exercise guidelines and overall fitness capacity. In other words, even though females appear to gain greater heart health benefits from exercise, they’re less likely than males to meet the recommended activity levels; males also generally have higher physical fitness.

The authors say their work is essential for tailoring physical activity guidelines and closing this gap. Other experts say that while the findings are significant, the goal for now is to continue focusing on the majority of people, both males and females, who do not meet minimum physical activity recommendations.

According to the CDC, fewer than half of U.S. adults (47%) meet these minimum guidelines. “This study finds consistent results with many previous studies and meta-analyses where physical activity has cardiovascular benefits for both sexes, but the estimated cardiovascular risk reduction from meeting moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity recommendations is a bit higher in women compared to men,” said Bethany Barone Gibbs, PhD, professor and chair of epidemiology and biostatistics at West Virginia University School of Public Health and volunteer expert for the American Heart Association (AHA). Gibbs wasn’t involved in the study.

“Though the modeled gradient of benefit is steeper for women than men, I think the more important message is the overall benefit from being active that both sexes achieve,” she told Healthline. The large observational study utilized data from over 85,000 participants in the UK Biobank to investigate the impact of physical activity on cardiovascular health in both males and females.

Specifically, the researchers investigated the impact of exercise on the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), also known as atherosclerosis. This type of cardiovascular disease involves a hardening of the arteries due to plaque buildup.

The goal was to determine whether the authors’ “one-size-fits-all” exercise recommendations adequately reflect sex-based differences. Most participants — about 80,000 — did not have CHD, while a smaller subgroup of roughly 5,000 did. Among participants without CHD, researchers assessed the risk of developing the disease; among those with existing CHD, they examined mortality. Participants provided activity data via wrist-worn fitness trackers.