LONDON (dpa-AFX) - A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that individuals who exercise primarily on weekends, commonly known as 'weekend warriors', can still achieve similar health benefits as those who workout throughout the week.
According to the researchers, this study is the first to explore the link between physical activity patterns, as measured by wearable devices, and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The research analyzed data from over 93,000 participants aged 37 to 73, sourced from a large biomedical database in the United Kingdom.
Participants wore wrist accelerometers to track their activity levels, and the data was categorized into three groups: 'weekend warriors,' who concentrated most of their exercise into two days; 'active regulars,' who spread their workouts evenly throughout the week; and 'inactive individuals,' who did not meet the recommended 150 minutes of weekly physical activity.
The findings revealed that both 'weekend warriors' and 'active regulars' experienced a significantly lower risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, compared to those in the inactive group, as long as they met the weekly exercise recommendation of 150 minutes.
'You don't need to exercise every day to stay healthy,' said corresponding author Zhi-Hao Li, an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health at Southern Medical University in China.
'As long as you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week - whether packed into one to two days or spread out - you can significantly reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer or other causes. This message is encouraging news for busy people who struggle to fit in daily workouts but can manage a concentrated burst of activity on weekends or over a couple of days,'
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