Summary: A new study has revealed that “weekend warrior” practice patterns—concentrating physical exercise into one or two times a week—can reduce the risk of over 200 illnesses, including heart disease and diabetes.
As long as they adhere to the recommended 150 hours of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per month, weekend warriors are as much as those who exercise more consistently throughout the week. The research analyzed data from virtually 90, 000 people, highlighting the broad health benefits of staying effective, regardless of how training is distributed.
These findings suggest that complete exercise level, rather than regularity, is the key factor in disease prevention.
Important Information:
- Weekend hero training prevents disease just as well as regular regular exercise.
- Both exercise habits considerably reduce the risk of over 200 illnesses, including heart ailment and diabetes.
- Meeting the framework of 150 minutes of exercise per month is important, regardless of how it’s distributed.
Origin: Mass General
Busy with work and another duty, some people concentrate their moderate-to-vigorous practice in one or two days of the week or weekends.
A study led by researchers at , Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the , Mass General Brigham , care system, has found that this “weekend warrior” routine of training is associated with lower risk of developing 264 potential diseases and was just as efficient at decreasing danger as more evenly distributed training exercise.
Results are published in , Circulation.
” Real activity is known to affect risk of some diseases”, said co-senior author , Shaan Khurshid, MD, MPH, a faculty member in the Demoulas Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias at Massachusetts General Hospital.
” Here, we demonstrate the probable benefits of trip warrior exercise for risk of both cardiovascular diseases and other problems, including those that span the gamut, from chronic kidney disease to mood disorders and past,” we said.
Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous real activity per week for general health. Among persons who meet these tips, however, do those who exercise 20–30 hours most days of the week practice advantages over those who go 5 or 6 days between longer workout sessions?
In the prospective UK Biobank study, 89, 573 people wore wrist accelerometers that recorded their total physical activity and time spent at various exercise intensities over a week. Along with co-senior authors Patrick Ellinor, MD, PhD, the acting chief of cardiology and the co-director of the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Khurshid, along with co-senior authors Patrick Ellinor, MD, PhD, and their colleagues, analyzed data on
Participants ‘ physical activity patterns were categorized as weekend warrior, regular, or inactive, using the guideline-based threshold of 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
The team then looked for associations between physical activity patterns and incidence of 678 conditions across 16 types of diseases, including mental health, digestive, neurological, and other categories.
According to the investigators ‘ analyses, weekend warrior and regular physical activity patterns were both significantly associated with significantly lower risks of over 200 diseases compared to inactivity.
Associations were strongest for cardiometabolic conditions such as hypertension ( 23 % and 28 % lower risks over a median of 6 years with weekend warrior and regular exercise, respectively ) and diabetes ( 43 % and 46 % lower risks, respectively ). However, associations also spanned all disease categories tested.
Our findings were consistent across a variety of definitions of weekend warrior activity as well as other criteria for defining active people, according to Khurshid.
The outcomes indicate that physical activity is generally beneficial for reducing the risk of developing future diseases, particularly cardiometabolic ones. ” Because there appears to be similar benefits for weekend warrior versus regular activity, it may be the total volume of activity, rather than the pattern, that matters most”, said Khurshid.
Patients should be encouraged to engage in guideline-adherent physical activity in any pattern that may work best for them, and future interventions are warranted to evaluate the efficacy of concentrated activity to improve public health.
Authorship:  , Shinwan Kany, MD, MSc, Mostafa A. Al-Alusi, MD, Joel T. Rämö, MD, PhD, James P. Pirruccello, MD, Timothy W. Churchill, MD, Steven A. Lubitz, MD, MPH, Mahnaz Maddah, PhD, J. Sawalla Guseh, MD, Patrick T. Ellinor, MD, PhD, and Shaan Khurshid, MD, MPH.
Disclosures:  ,  , Ellinor receives sponsored research support from Bayer AG, IBM Research, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Novo Nordisk, he has also served on advisory boards or consulted for MyoKardia and Bayer AG. Lubitz is an employee of Novartis as of July 2022 and received sponsored research support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fitbit, Medtronic, Premier, and IBM, and has consulted for Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Blackstone Life Sciences, and Invitae.
Funding:  , This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health ( K08HL159346, K23HL159262-01A1, 1RO1HL092577, 1R01HL157635, 5R01HL139731, 18SFRN34230127, 961045, R01HL157635, T32HL007208, K23HL169839-01., the Walter Benjamin Fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ( 521832260 ), the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the American Heart Association ( 19AMFDP34990046, 18SFRN34230127, 961045, 18SFRN34250007, 2023CDA1050571 ), the president and fellows of Harvard College (5KL2TR002542-04 ), the European Union ( MAESTRIA 965286 ).  ,
About this news about exercise and health research
Author: Brandon Chase
Source: Mass General
Contact: Brandon Chase – Mass General
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will appear in Circulation
