Weekend exercise as good as daily workouts for brain health

New research shows that the benefits to cognitive health are largely the same for those who only exercise on weekends – weekend warriors – as those who work out more often.

The link between brain health and exercise is well established

The link between exercise and brain health has been well established, with the most well-known study from a collaboration between the Universities of California and British Columbia. People in their 80s and 90s were recruited for the trial, given fitness trackers, and upon their death, their brains were analysed.  The results showed a 30-80% reduced risk of dementia in people who exercised, with physical exercise late in life protecting the aging connections between brain cells.

New studies show less frequent exercise can have the same benefit as regular workouts

Now, a new study of just over 10,000 people has found that the reduction in risk of dementia was largely the same between those who exercise regularly and those who work out just once or twice a week. Lead author of the study Dr David Donovan said “I think our study is more good news for busy people around the world. This is our latest weekend warrior study, and it’s now becoming increasingly clear that the benefits of exercising once or twice a week are much the same as exercising more often. This is the first longitudinal study showing that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern is also good for mental health,”

O’Donovan and his colleagues looked at data from a Mexico City study that surveyed just over 10,000 people aged over 35 between 1998 and 2005, then did a second later survey on them between 2015 and 2019.

The results from the first survey showed that 79% of the participants did no sport or exercise, 7% were weekend warriors and 14% exercised more often. In the second survey years later, responders were tested for mild dementia – 26% of the non-exercisers showed signs of dementia, while 14% of the weekend warriors showed signs of the disease, with 18% of the group who exercised several times a week displaying symptoms. In a further analysis that took into account lifestyle factors like obesity, wealth, smoking, and sex, the numbers fell in favour of the weekend warriors. They had a 25% lower risk of dementia than the inactive group, with the regular exercisers coming in at an 11% lower risk.

But, the volume of exercise would seem to be an important factor.

A study led by Dr. Shaan Khurshid of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found those who fit a week’s worth of exercise into one or two days have a lower risk of developing more than 200 diseases compared with inactive people, with regular exercisers experiencing similar benefits. But he noted that previous work had emphasised that it was the total volume of exercise that was the most relevant factor rather than the frequency. In the study those that were seen to get the most benefit in terms of brain health had done 150 minutes of exercise, regardless of the frequency and duration of each separate session.

“So you need to exercise longer on those fewer sessions per week if you’re going to be a weekend warrior so that you’re still getting the recommended activity volumes,” he said. However, the study concluded that:

“Physical activity concentrated within 1 to 2 days was associated with similarly lower risk of cardiovascular outcomes to more evenly distributed activity”.

In the field we have seen great results even in those clients who only have a single session of PT per week, with an achievable 20-30 min homework routine followed on the weekend – see our 50+ page for more!