Weekly exercise is enough

There has always been debate over how much exercise is enough to stay healthy and fight off disease. The prevailing belief is that three to four times a week will stave off common fatal illnesses and maintain a high quality of life. Those who only exercise when they can (on the weekends) are often warned that they are shocking their systems and are setting themselves up for a heart attack. But new research suggests that weekend warriors may be doing enough to stay as healthy, after all.

In a 10-year study of 350,000 adults in the US, researchers for a Chinese team found that those who exercise less than three to four times as week also lower their risk of untimely death as much as those who do. They are similarly less likely to succumb to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses than those who do not exercise at all. The study was reported by multiple media outlets last July.

“When performing the same amount of physical activity, spreading it over more days or concentrating it over fewer days may not influence outcomes,” declares Professor Yafeng Wang of Jiangnan University, author of the study. “These findings suggest that whether the recommended amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity is spread out over the week or concentrated over fewer days, there may be no significant difference in health benefits.”

This supports a previous study that tracked over 63,000 British and Scottish citizens with an average age of 58 from 1997 to 2012, which was released by the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine. It found that those who exercised just once or twice a week experienced 30 percent lower mortality rate, and even exceeded the 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous weekly exercise recommended by the US and other international health authorities. The study was a collaboration between England, Australia and Harvard University.

“We were surprised to find that cardiovascular and cancer mortality were also lower among the weekend warriors,” says lead author Professor Gary O’Donovan from Loughborough University in the UK. “Interestingly, we also found the benefits are much the same in men and women.”

In another subgroup of that study, those who exercised only 60 minutes a week (called “insufficient exercisers”) had a 31 percent lower mortality rate than those who didn’t exercise at all. Those who exercised three to four times (averaging about 450 minutes of exercise a week or triple the recommended amount), had the greatest benefit, 35 percent lower all-cause mortality. These studies therefore qualify that it is the amount of exercise - not the frequency- which is most important.

So don’t worry about the weekend warriors. As long as they get the recommended amount of exercise once or twice a week, with enough sleep and proper diet, they’ll live longer. As long as we do it regularly, we will be okay.