How often, because of busy working days, have you been unable to allocate one hour for fitness or jogging in the park? There is a solution! A new analysis of the data by scientists has shown that all sports activities can be transferred to the weekend without loss in benefits.
In a new international study, scientists analyzed the health data of more than 350 thousand people in the United States collected during the National Health Survey (NHIS) in the period from 1997 to 2013.
Studying the data, a team led by first author Mauricio dos Santos, an exercise physiology researcher at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, came to this conclusion: “The results show that people who engage in active types of physical activity, whether only on weekends or regularly, have lower mortality rates,” the authors report.
Sports weekends
“We found that weekend athletes and regularly active participants had the same mortality from all causes. So, it can be assumed that when performing the same amount of physical activity, distributing it for a larger number of days or concentrating it on a smaller number of days may not affect mortality rates,” the authors write.
General and important conclusion: instead of worrying about how often and when you should exercise — make sure you try to reach the recommended activity level every week. It is then that the positive effect of exercise can be seen most clearly.