‘Weekend warriors’ workout tied to longevity with low risk for CVD, cancer and all-cause mortality.

Courtesy: Pixabay

The standard recommendation by CDC[1] and American Heart Association[2] is 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week for achieving health benefits for those aged 18 to 64 years. But, very few people can keep up with this routine and most of us just cram the workout of entire week into 1- 2 weekend sessions, 2-3 long runs or participating in our favorite sports like hiking, basketball or Zumba.

Courtesy: Pixabay

Well, although not ideal but, it reduces your risk of dying from cardiovascular, all cause and cancer by 30% according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine online on January 9, 2017.[3] The study was conducted by researchers from the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine–East Midlands at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.

This study examined whether ‘weekend warriors’ also derive the same benefits as their more active, regularly hitting the gym counterparts.

Gary O’Donovan did a pooled analysis of 63 591 adult respondents (>40 years old) who answered a household based survey in England and Scotland. The survey was conducted between 1994 to 2012 and analyzed in 2016. The survey was prospectively linked to British National Health Service Central Registry which identified participants who died, including the cause of death.

For the purpose of analysis, the respondents very divided into 4 groups depending on their exercise pattern:  Those who  were inactive (reporting no moderate- or vigorous-intensity activities), insufficiently active (reporting <150 min/wk in moderate-intensity and <75 min/wk in vigorous-intensity activities), weekend warrior (reporting ≥150 min/wk in moderate-intensity or ≥75 min/wk in vigorous-intensity activities from 1 or 2 sessions), and regularly active (reporting ≥150 min/wk in moderate-intensity or ≥75 min/wk in vigorous-intensity activities from ≥3 sessions). 

The mean age of the study participants was 58.6 years with nearly equal gender ratio. About 40,000 people did not exercise at all, 14000 were insufficiently active, 2500 were weekend warriors and 7000 people were regularly active.

During the follow up period of 9 years, 8,800 people died, CVD being responsible for 2780 and cancer for 2500 deaths.

A detailed analysis of ‘weekend warriors’ group showed that, men were more likely to work vigorously on weekends, mostly engaging in some sort of sports. Walking briskly was also very popular and reported by 30% of weekend warriors. Weekend warriors spent a total of 300 minutes exercising as compared to 450 minutes spent by those who are regular.

After adjustment for all confounders, as compared to inactive participants risk of all cause death for weekend warriors was 30% less (hazard ratio [HR], 0.70), risk of CVD was 40%( HR=0.60) less and cancer death was 18% less (HR= 0.82).

Similar pattern of risk reduction was found in insufficiently active people too, indicating any exercise is better than being totally inactive.

When analysis was run between inactive group and regular exercise group, the regularly active persons have a 35% decrease in all-cause mortality (HR=0.65),  41% lower CVD death(HR=0.59), and 21% lower cancer death(HR=0.79).

During the follow up period of 9 years, 8,800 people died, CVD being responsible for 2780 and cancer for 2500 deaths.

"These findings suggest that some physical activity in an isolated session, or low activity, is certainly better than no activity for reducing mortality risk," Hannah Arem and Loretta DiPietro, of George Washington University, wrote in a commentary accompanying the new study in the journal.

The study has its own limitations that it is dependent on self-reporting and assessed the activity level only once at the start of the study. The study also did not assess the risk of injury in the weekend warriors.

But, the encouraging new conclusion emerging from the study is for those who exercise less frequently is even 1-2 vigorous activity session per week have health benefits and can lower the mortality.

The recommendations by CDC for regular physical activity can be found here.

The recommendations by American Heart Association ( AHA)  for regular physical activity can be found here.

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[1] https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/

[2] http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/American-Heart-Association-Recommendations-for-Physical-Activity-in-Adults_UCM_307976_Article.jsp#.WIPgqBsrK00

[3] http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2596007