For over a decade, conventional wisdom has been that Sitting too much is a lethal activity and we should move regularly throughout the day. Kick off the standing desk revolution and a wave of guilt for those of us who want to be fit but are still tied to our computers for 40 hours a week. Some studies have questioned whether resistance training can mitigate how constant sitting affects vascular health, specifically:with mixed results.
Now new research has emerged with a clearer bottom line and encouraging news for anyone who tends to work out on the weekend.
An investigation by an international group of researchers, published in JAMA Internal Medicine this summer, found that when it comes to longevity, exercising on weekends alone is enough to offset a sedentary lifestyle for the rest of the week, as long as you meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity level: a minimum 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity. This confirms research carried out in the UK in 2017 who came to a similar conclusion about weekend warriors, albeit in a smaller study.
The new study analyzed data from 350,978 adults in the US who self-reported their physical activity annually between 1997 and 2013. Based on the frequency, intensity and duration of their exercise, people were classified as physically inactive or physically active. and those in the active group were referred to as “weekend warriors” or “regularly active.” The researchers compared the National Death Index through Dec. 31, 2015, to track participant mortality.
There was no statistically significant difference in mortality rates between weekend active participants and regularly active participants, and both groups had lower mortality rates than inactive participants (even when broken down between all causes, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality). “We show that weekend warriors can reap health benefits comparable to those of regularly active people when engaging in a similar amount of general activity,” said Donghoon Lee, a co-author of the study and a research associate at the New York School of Public Health. Harvard. london times. “Ideally, it would be nice to spread out exercise over the week, but in the real world that may not be possible and our findings have important implications for people who don’t find it convenient.”
“In my opinion, the bottom line here is that the total amount or dose of physical activity completed is still more important than any of the individual components, including the pattern of physical activity, such as weekend warrior versus regular weekly activity” said Jonathan Stine, a professor of medicine at Penn State who was not associated with the study.
Still, there are some caveats to the new findings. An obvious limitation of the study is that it relied on self-reported activity levels, which may or may not be accurate. but a smaller study 2018 analyzed data from 3,438 people using accelerometers to objectively assess physical activity patterns and came to the same basic conclusion: Weekday exercisers don’t live longer than weekend warriors.
The optimal combination of frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity to reduce mortality risk is not yet well understood, but this research is a useful step. “Much of the evidence we have [about the health benefits of exercise] it’s still tied to the total number of minutes throughout the week rather than broken down by the number of sessions,” said Brad Prigge, activity and wellness assessment specialist in the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program.
Prigge adds that while this latest study is encouraging, it’s important to look at more than just mortality risk. The new research doesn’t tell us whether people who exercise only on weekends can make the same improvements in fitness as people who exercise more often, or whether they’re more prone to injury.
Ultimately, no one argues that if you want to feel your best and get in shape, moving more is smart. “Something is always better than nothing,” says Prigge, adding that we should ask ourselves what he asks his patients: “What is important to you and how do you feel?”
If sitting at a desk for eight hours a day most of the week doesn’t affect your ability to do other things you enjoy, like walking with your kids, running a local 10K, or keeping up with your friends on bike rides weekend, then no Don’t give up on it.
