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Show Women: An Equal Chance By DALE NELSON Professor, Utah State University Member of the Governor's Council on Health and Fitness Women have come a long way in competitive sports and fitness programs. We find them equal, if not superior, super-ior, to men in many ways as we view the two genders in conditioning activities. And that is the way it should be-equal, at the very least, in opportunity. Then all of the spin-off benefits from sport and exercise will occur to everyone. SOME WRITERS have ever been a little over-zealous over-zealous in making a case for women being superior to men in heat tolerance, a point that needs some clarification. clarifica-tion. Women are not superior to men in heat tolerance nor are they more at risk in the heat than men. A careful examination of the research literature shows that variables vari-ables like cardiovascular fitness are much more impor-tagt impor-tagt than gender in determining heat tolerance. The suggestion that women have some sex-related advantage over men in this area is absurd. The fact is that women gain the same benefits from exercise as men. That's the point on which we should dwell. A RECENT three year study of men and women showed a connection between regular, vigorous aerobic exercise and elevated high density lipoprotein cholesterol choles-terol levels. Plasma levels of HDL2, an HDL-C sub-fraction sub-fraction which helps clear fat from the blood, was found to be higher in those subjects who exercised at higher levels. The author said the threshold level of exercise necessary to affect HDL2 levels was at least 12 miles of running per week, although some benefits occurred at lower levels in some people. Another point worthy of note was that other factors such as genetics and sex are more important than exercise. exer-cise. Premenopausal women, for example, have HDL2 levels that are nearly three times as high as those in men. It seems that there is a strong genetic component for HDL2 levels as well as the ability of exercise to increase those levels. At least we can do something about our exercise-men and women both, let's do it! |
