Is it sufficient to exercise one or two days per week to keep one healthy?
As long as the individual gets the minutes required to maintain health, a recent study found that exercising just one or two days per week can lower the risk of dying from cancer and heart disease without necessitating daily exercise.
"Practicing moderate or vigorous physical exercise for 150 minutes per week, whether one or two days a week, or throughout the week, helps reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes," according to a research team from Southern Medical University in China.
More than 93,000 people in Britain participated in the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. They were divided into three groups and given wristbands to measure their levels of physical activity:
- A group workout that lasts for a week.
- A group exercising on the weekend.
- A group that lives a sedentary life without exercising at all.
According to the study's findings, people who only worked out on the weekends had a 32% lower chance of dying than people who worked out every day, which was 26% lower.
"Confirming proof"
According to study team members cited by the medical research website HealthDay, these findings offer "reassuring evidence" that sporadic exercise can have long-term health benefits.
According to current US guidelines, maintaining health requires at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.