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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.
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| 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.
[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
