Credits: Social Media
‘Weekend warriors’ get the same physical health benefits as everyday exercisers, study finds
Are you a daily exerciser or weekend warrior ? Turns out, it doesnt really matter when you exercise. As long as youre doing 2.5 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, youre lowering your risk of developing 264 diseases in the future.
You can exercise before bed without issue. You can swim, cycle, or run. Just 11 minutes of walking per day lowers your risk of heart attack, stroke, and general ill health. As long as you dont push yourself too hard at the gym and experience back pain as a result, the exercise you choose matters less than choosing to exercise in the first place. Well, and going through with it. You neednt be a fitness fanatic, just know that your body will thank you tomorrow if you put it through the motions today.
Weekend warrior physical activity may help protect you against 250+ diseases
Not everyone has the time to exercise during the week. Some of us wake up at silly oclock and only get home from work with a few hours to spare before bedtime.
While such people would certainly benefit from engaging in a bit of physical activity at some point during their working day it brings a whole host of mental health benefits, as well as giving you energy theyd get basically the same physical health benefits from lumping all their exercise together at the weekend.
Thats the main finding of a study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital. They found that the so-called weekend warrior pattern of exercise is associated with a lower risk of developing 264 future diseases.
Whats more, it was just as effective at decreasing risk as more evenly distributed exercise activity.
Conditions most prevented include hypertension and obesity
The researchers compared people who they classified as inactive who did less than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week with weekend warriors (who did more than 150 minutes per week, concentrated in one or two days) and those who took part in regular activity (150+ minutes spread over the week).
Both the latter camps came out on top and fared about as well as each other in terms of lowering the risk of developing physical ailments. It may be, however, that those who do all their exercise at one end of the week miss out on certain other mental health benefits.
The strongest associations they observed are unsurprising, given what we know about the benefits of regular exercise. But for the sake of interest, the conditions exercise is best at preventing include:
- Incident hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Sleep apnea (where your breathing slows and sometimes stops while youre sleeping).
The key takeaway is that it doesnt make much of a difference when you exercise, as long as you do exercise. If you need some inspiration or something to aim for, consider working towards being able to complete the Navy SEALs physical screening test. Its devilishly difficult! But take it from me, it feels good once you’ve done it.
