Study: 2 Days Of Vigorous Exercise And Regular Workout, Both Provide Similar Cardiac Benefits
According to research, those who exercise vigorously for 1-2 days lower their risk of heart attack and stroke just as much as people who exercise moderately for multiple days.
For general health advantages, the World Health Organization and American Heart Association currently suggest 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each week.
The effects of intense vs equally dispersed exercise, however, are yet unknown.
A “weekend warrior” pattern of physical activity, in which the majority of MVPA is accomplished over 1-2 days, and a pattern of more evenly distributed MVPA across multiple days are the subjects of the study, which was published in the journal JAMA. The study looks at the associations of cardiovascular event risk between these two patterns.
The researchers examined data from the UK Biobank cohort project, concentrating on people who gave information on their physical activity for a whole week using an accelerometer between June 8, 2013, and December 30, 2015.
The researchers compared 3 MVPA patterns using this information. In the group of weekend warriors who were physically active, participants accomplished 50% or more of the total activity in 1-2 days and at least 150 minutes of MVPA.
While members of the active regular group completed at least 150 minutes of MVPA, they did not fulfill the requirements for active WW. Participants in the inactive group performed fewer than 150 minutes of MVPA.
A median threshold of 230.4 minutes or more of MVPA per week was used to examine the same trends.
The relationships between these activity patterns and the incidence of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation were examined.
89,573 people with a mean age of 62 years, 56% of whom were women, underwent accelerometry for the analysis.
The researchers reported that the findings indicated that both focused and uniformly dispersed exercise patterns were related to substantially decreased odds of all four cardiovascular events.
The researchers concluded that physical activity-based cardiovascular health treatments may be successful even when focused on just one or two days per week.
According to the researchers, this discovery is particularly important for those who are time-constrained since it implies that shorter periods of physical exercise may still provide beneficial effects.
“Physical activity concentrated within 1 to 2 days was linked with equally decreased risk of cardiovascular outcomes to more regular exercise,” the authors said in a study including almost 90,000 people who provided wrist-based activity measurement.
So, they said, “Our data expand past work indicating improved cardiovascular outcomes with increased moderate and vigorous exercise, as well as reports demonstrating that focused physical activity is linked with similar reductions in mortality to more regular activity.”
The researchers said, “Our results show that physical activity participation, regardless of pattern, may optimize risk across a broad range of cardiovascular illnesses.”
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