Few women reading Body|Body|Health look like Eniko Mihalik, photographed by Alasdair McLellan for the new magazine Gentlewoman Spring 2010. The gorgeous Hungarian Mihalik is quoted as saying she spends not much time in the gym, preferring board games and eating sushi.

As for the rest of us, not only will necessary trips to the gym not go away any time soon, but we must up the ante. There’s rampant confusion in the world of women’s exercise this moment. After reading and digesting the facts, the two new studies actually aren’t contradictory.

One says work harder for shorter periods of time. The other says, sorry, it’s an hour a day for the rest of your life. Before we became a sedentary society, this much exercise each day was a given and not hard to achieve. Even the vacuum cleaner was an exercise aid back in the day.

There is one truth about exercise. Some is better than none. Holding the computer mouse or bouncing a baby doesn’t count for much.

Public health guidelines recommend that children and teenagers exercise one hour every day and adults get a weekly minimum of two hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening) or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, aerobic dancing and jumping rope).

Having sex at a vigorous pace can burn over one hundred calories per hour, with added benefits of emotional bonding and fun, assuming you have the right attitude in bed and an eager partner. As women age, we need more exercise to maintain weight without dieting. For this reason, I advocate even more time spent in bed, once the kids are grown.