Work, daily chores and responsibilities don’t leave us with much free time, so we often wonder how we can find time to exercise every day when we barely have time to make dinner. However, exercising has numerous health benefits, such as reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and dementia.
Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Aging brings good news for people trying to fit exercise routines into their busy weekday schedules, as its findings suggest that “weekend warriors”—that is, individuals who do most of their exercise on the weekend—may enjoy the same brain and mental health benefits as those who exercise regularly during the week.
A team of researchers from China analysed data from around half a million people in the UK registered with UK Biobank. More than 100,000 of these people were wearing wearable activity trackers. The participants, whose average age was 62, provided data from wearable devices worn on their wrist to track their physical activity patterns over a seven-day period. They were then categorised into three groups: of the 75,500 participants, some 24,300 were classified as inactive, 21,200 as regularly active and 30,000 as weekend warriors.
The researchers followed the participants for an average of 8.4 years. They used records from primary care physicians, hospitalization data, and death records to track the occurrence of neurological diseases (dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease) as well as psychological disorders (including depression and anxiety). The researchers adjusted for several key lifestyle and health factors that could affect these outcomes, including age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and history of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer.
Lower risk of Parkinson’s, dementia or depression
The results showed that compared to inactive adults, weekend warriors had a 26% lower risk of developing dementia, a 21% lower risk of stroke, and a 45% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. Their risk was 40% and 37% lower for depression and anxiety, respectively, compared to the inactive group. All of these figures in the weekend warrior group were comparable to the results of those who were regularly active.
Protective associations against depression and anxiety were consistent across age groups, both younger and older than 65 years. However, reduced risks of dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease were particularly pronounced in those older than 65 years. This finding reflects the significant benefits of physical activity for older adults, who are at higher risk for these conditions.
What if weekends are off-limits for exercise because of work, family duties, or other commitments? Fortunately, researchers explored different patterns of the weekend warrior lifestyle. They found that as long as people accumulated most of their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity into one or two days of the week, even if they weren’t consecutive days, they achieved similar health benefits.
In an earlier study that also used data from the UK Biobank, researchers similarly found that people who do most of their exercise in one or two days experience similar heart health benefits as those whose physical activity is spread more evenly throughout the week. And if traditional gym exercise isn’t your thing, you’re still in luck. The study used activity trackers that monitored all types of activity. So, regardless of how you stack up your moderate to vigorous activity, this study suggests you’ll reap the health benefits.
The researchers took into account several lifestyle and health factors. However, it’s still possible that other factors influenced some of the associations. Another limitation is that the study couldn’t assess how changes in physical activity over time might affect brain health. Previous research has shown that even inactive adults who increase their activity levels can experience immediate health benefits. However, the findings add to a substantial body of evidence supporting the brain health benefits and overall health benefits of moderate to vigorous physical activity — any day of the week you can do it.
