Do you find it hard to fit in a run, yoga or a gym session during the working week? Worry not, say scientists: putting in a stint at the weekend is just as good for your heart as regular exercise.
In a new study, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA, discovered thatpeople with a ‘weekend warrior’ exercise pattern have similar health benefitsto those who work out regularly during the week.
两组展示同样的风险较低heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm), and stroke, compared to non-active people.
“Our findings suggest that interventions to increase physical activity, even when concentrated within a day or two each week, may improve cardiovascular outcomes,” said senior authorDr Patrick T. Ellinor, acting chief of Cardiology at the hospital.
The ‘weekend warrior’ pattern suits those who find it hard to muster up the time, energy or motivation to get active during a busy week. It involves concentrating physical efforts to one or two days of the week or weekend rather than spreading exercise out over several days.
Health guidelinesrecommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per week. But this study, published inJAMA(Journal of the American Medical Association), is the first to address the question of whether this can be concentrated into longer sessions.
The researchers examined data from almost 90,000 individuals whose wrist exercise watch information is available for research in the UK Biobank.
Of those individuals, around 34 per cent were inactive (doing under 150 minutes of exercise per week), 42 per cent were weekend warriors (doing the majority of their 150 minutes in one-to-two days), and 24 per cent were regular exercisers.
Both of the groups meeting the 150-minute minimum were found to have similarly lower risks of cardiovascular issues than the first group.
For example, there was a 27 per cent lower instance of heart attack in weekend warriors and 35 per cent lower instance for regular exercisers. The risk of heart failure was 38 per cent lower for weekend warriors compared to 36 per cent for regular exercisers.
The next steps for the research team will be assessing whether reduced risks for weekend warriors spread into other disease categories beyond cardiovascular issues.
Read more:
