Thanks to scientists collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data, we know a lot about exercise and how it’s good for your health.
We know things like optimal time of day to exercise, how often you should exerciseand that type of intensity you should aim for.
Many of these are just recommendations, of course, but they are based on recorded aggregate data from thousands of participants, showing what seems to work best for most people, and from many different perspectives too.
For example, they can tell us interesting and useful factoids, such as how much exercise is needed to compensate for sitting all day, or as best to maintain weightand how even just a single workout can provide health benefits.
All of these studies have insights that we can learn from and try to apply to our own lives. But if you’re like most people, one of the biggest problems with exercise is simply finding time to do it during the week.
On that front, scientists also have some news. And it’s good news.
in a new international studioresearchers analyzed public health data on more than 350,000 people in the US collected through the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) between 1997 and 2013.
Analyzing the data, the team, led by first author Mauricio dos Santos, an exercise physiology researcher at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil, had a single question they wanted to explore.
Bottom line, as long as you’re getting enough exercise to meet the recommended levels of physical activity each week, does it matter if you exercise in just one or two sessions (aka “weekend warriors”), or is it better spread out physical activity over three or more regular sessions during the week?
Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines 2020 on physical activity and sedentary behavior stipulate that adults should get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week (or some equivalent combination thereof) .
While studies have previously looked at the health benefits of being a ‘weekend warrior’It is not yet clear how doing just one or two sessions of exercise a week compares to doing more frequent sessions of physical activity, specifically in terms of reducing mortality risk.
Thanks to dos Santos and company, we now have a clearer answer.
After comparing people in the cohort who performed the recommended level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each week, the researchers found very little difference between the weekend warriors and the participants who exercised more regularly, in terms of risk reduction for all-cause mortality. or specifically of cancer or cardiovascular disease.
“We found that weekend active participants and regularly active participants had similar all-cause and cause-specific mortality, suggesting that by engaging in the same amount of physical activity, spreading it out over more days or concentrating it over fewer days may not influence mortality outcomes.” study authors write on your paper.
Most importantly, rather than worrying about how often or when you should exercise, make sure you aim to reach your recommended levels of activity each week, because that’s when the beneficial effects of exercise can be seen most clearly.
Over the course of 10.4 years (the average time participants were involved in the survey), almost 22,000 people involved in the NHIS died. However, among all participants, the statistical probability of dying from various causes was significantly lower overall if they engaged in recommended levels of physical activity.
“The findings of this large prospective cohort study suggest that people who engage in active patterns of physical activity, whether they exercise on the weekend or are regularly active, experience lower mortality rates from all causes and from specific causes than inactive people. the team explains.
“Compared with physically inactive participants, the hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 0.92 for weekend warriors and 0.85 for regularly active participants; the findings for mortality from specific causes were similar.
The researchers noted some limitations of their analysis, including that the main survey data came from self-report questionnaires, which are likely to include a certain level of error compared to more objective measurements.
On the positive side, the findings here involve a large cohort observed over a long period, which can give us considerable confidence in the reported statistics.
Ultimately, the results confirm much of what we already know: exercise is good for you, and for many of us, getting enough can help us live longer.
Plus, that’s true even if you’re short on time, as long as you can carve out time on the weekends to get in a good workout or two.
“For people with fewer opportunities for daily or regular physical activity during their workweek, these findings are important.” researchers explain.
The findings are reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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