For most of us, weekdays are a frenzy of juggling workloads, family obligations and social lives. There is very little time left for training. Lucky for you, concentrating your physical activity on just two days a week is just as beneficial as regular exercise for protecting against a range of diseases, according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Physical activity is known to influence the risk of many diseases,” said senior co-author Shaan Khurshid, MD, MPH, of the Demoulas Cardiac Arrhythmias Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Here, as we have shown in the past, we demonstrate the potential benefits of weekend warrior activity not only for cardiovascular disease but also for risk for future diseases spanning the entire spectrum from conditions such as chronic kidney disease to mood disorders and beyond.”
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In the study, researchers analyzed information from nearly 90,000 people who wore wrist accelerometers to record their total physical activity and the time they spent at different exercise intensities for a week. Participants were divided into three groups: weekend warrior, regular, and sedentary, using 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week as a reference.
With these groups in mind, the researchers then looked for a correlation between physical activity and the occurrence of more than 650 conditions across 16 types of diseases, including neurological, mental, cardiovascular and more. What they found was that the “weekend warrior” exercise pattern was as effective as more evenly distributed exercise activity in reducing disease risk.
“It may be the total volume of activity rather than the pattern that matters most, as there appear to be similar benefits compared to regular activity for weekend warriors,” Khurshid said. “Future interventions testing the effectiveness of concentrated activity to improve public health are warranted, and patients should be encouraged to engage in guideline-compliant physical activity using whatever modality may work best for them.”
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Moral of the story? Any exercise, even as little as one or two days a week, is better than no exercise at all. Whether you can fit in four 40-minute workouts or two 75-minute workouts a week, you're on your way to a healthier life. Research suggests that as long as you can exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, you can reduce the risk of many diseases.