Weekend warriors may deliver brain health and mental health benefits

Adult responsibilities can make spare time hard to come by. Many people ask themselves, "I barely have time to cook dinner. How can I find time to exercise regularly during the week?"

The health gains linked to exercise – including a lower likelihood of chronic illnesses such as heart disease and dementia – may feel unattainable amid the demands of work and everyday life.

However, a new study in the journal Nature Aging brings encouraging news for people unable to build regular exercise into their weekday routines.

Its results indicate that "weekend warriors" – people who complete most of their exercise at the weekend – could receive brain health and mental health benefits comparable with those of people who exercise consistently across the week.

What the study did

A research group in China examined information from more than 75,000 UK Biobank participants. UK Biobank is a major cohort study following the health of around half a million people in the United Kingdom, with more than 100,000 participants having worn activity-tracking devices. The participants in this analysis had an average age of 62.

Data from wrist-worn devices recorded participants’ physical activity patterns for seven days. Researchers then placed them in one of three categories:

• inactive: people who were not meeting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week
• regularly active: those meeting the guidelines with activity spread throughout the week
• "weekend warriors": people meeting the guidelines by accumulating more than 50% of their activity across one to two days (this was not necessarily Saturday and Sunday, but any one or two days of the week).

Participants were followed for a median of 8.4 years. Using GP records, hospital admission information and death records, the team identified the onset of neurological conditions – dementia, stroke and Parkinson's disease – and psychological disorders, including depression and anxiety.

The analysis accounted for several important health and lifestyle factors that might influence these outcomes. These included age, sex, smoking status, alcohol intake, diet, and a history of conditions including diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure) and cancer.

Weekend warriors reap big rewards

Of the approximately 75,500 people studied, roughly 24,300 were categorised as inactive, 21,200 as regularly active and 30,000 as weekend warriors.

Compared with inactive adults, weekend warriors had a 26% lower likelihood of developing dementia, a 21% lower risk of stroke and a 45% lower risk of Parkinson's disease.

Relative to the inactive group, their risks of depression and anxiety were 40% and 37% lower respectively. Across all of these measures, results for weekend warriors were similar to those seen among regularly active participants.

The apparent protection against depression and anxiety was consistent in people both younger and older than 65. By contrast, the lower risks of dementia, stroke and Parkinson's disease were especially marked among those over 65. This reflects the considerable value of physical activity for older adults, who face a greater risk of these conditions.

More than one route to exercise benefits

But what happens when exercise at the weekend is impossible because of work, family responsibilities or other obligations? The researchers also considered alternative versions of the weekend warrior pattern.

They found similar health benefits when people built up most of their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on any one or two days each week, even when those days did not follow one another.

An earlier study that also drew on UK Biobank data likewise found that people completing most of their exercise over one or two days gained heart health benefits similar to those whose activity was distributed more evenly through the week.

Traditional gym exercise is not essential either. The devices used in this study captured every type of activity. Therefore, however people reach their moderate-to-vigorous activity total, the findings suggest that they can gain the health benefits.

This is consistent with an expanding body of research indicating that the benefits are available to everyone, whether activity comes from brief daily bursts such as climbing stairs, household tasks or a walk in the park, or from longer periods of running or gym training.

Caveats to bear in mind

Although the researchers adjusted for a range of lifestyle and health influences, other factors may still have affected some of the observed associations.

The study was also unable to examine how changes in physical activity over time could affect brain health. Earlier research has found that even inactive adults may experience immediate health improvements when they raise their activity levels.

Even so, these findings add to a substantial evidence base supporting the brain health and wider health benefits of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – whatever days of the week people can make time for it.

Matthew Ahmadi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney and Emmanuel Stamatakis, Professor of Physical Activity, Lifestyle, and Population Health, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.