Regular exercise is good for the health. This is not much in dispute anymore. However there are some who do not exercise regularly called weekend warriors. Even so, weekend warriors might have some health benefits after all.
Being a weekend warrior means not exercising regularly. Having some exercise might still be better than having no exercise at all though. Having some form of physical activity is said to cut risks of heart disease and cancer, two of the most dreaded diseases today.
Emmanuel Stamatakis, associate professor from the University of Sydney and lead author of the study has said that even with physical activity once or twice a week would already have positive benefits to a person's health. It would still be below the recommended amount of physical activity, but it would be preferable than not having any activity at all. Stamatakis did stress that people should still meet the recommended amount of physical activity for optimal benefits.
The World Health Organization has recommended at least 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity. That could also mean having 75 minutes of vigorous training. Much better results have been achieved by combining moderate and vigorous physical activities, according to Science Daily.
While a combination of activities would have the most benefits, there is still much research on how this could be done or what combination would be best. People could possibly meet that guideline by having 20 minutes of moderate activity and then 15 minutes of strength training.
To find out more about the benefits of some physical activity, Gary O'Donovan Ph.D. from Loughborough University and his colleagues went over data of some 63,591 respondents for the Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey done from 1194 to 2012. The participants were at least 40 years old, as Medscape reports. The participants were then divided into four groups based on the amount of physical activity done.
The survey data has shown that inactive participants were more likely to smoke and had unskilled work as opposed to those who have some activity. Weekend warriors averaged 300 minutes per week in physical activity compared to more active people who have at least 450 minutes a week. Exercise at some level is said to be more preferable than no exercise at all.
Regular exercise is good for the health. Even so, weekend warriors might have some health benefits after all. For 2017, plant based diets are said to be the best.
