{"id":420511,"date":"2026-05-10T06:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/420511\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T06:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T06:48:16","slug":"too-much-cardio-after-40-why-womens-bodies-may-respond-differently-from-mens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/420511\/","title":{"rendered":"Too much cardio after 40? Why women\u2019s bodies may respond differently from men\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: inherit; list-style: none; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; font-family: inherit; color: inherit; display: block;\">Cardio is excellent for heart health, circulation, lung function, and mental well-being. The problem begins when it becomes excessive and replaces everything else.<\/p>\n<p>Many women over 40 unknowingly enter a cycle of:<\/p>\n<p>Doing more cardio<br \/>Eating too little<br \/>Losing muscle instead of fat<br \/>Feeling constantly tired<br \/>Seeing fewer results<br \/>\u200b<br \/>Excessive cardio can increase cortisol, the body\u2019s primary stress hormone. When cortisol remains elevated for long periods, it may contribute to stubborn belly fat, fatigue, cravings, and disrupted sleep.<\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9235827\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Research <\/a>published by the US Office on Women\u2019s Health notes that aging women naturally lose muscle mass over time, making strength preservation especially important after 40.<\/p>\n<p>This is where many traditional fitness plans fail women. They focus heavily on calorie burning but ignore muscle protection.<\/p>\n<p>Muscle matters far more than many people realise. It supports metabolism, balance, blood sugar control, bone strength, and long-term mobility. Losing it too quickly can make aging physically harder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cardio is excellent for heart health, circulation, lung function, and mental well-being. The problem begins when it becomes&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[215927,215924,565,134,111,139,69,215923,215926,215925],"class_list":["post-420511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-best-exercises-for-women","tag-exercise-and-women","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-women-and-exercise","tag-women-in-40s-exercise","tag-women-in-their-40s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}