One study shows that people who do 1-2 days of vigorous physical activity have the same lower risk of heart attack and stroke as those who do moderate physical activity for several days. Current guidelines from the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week for overall health benefits. However, the effect of concentrated versus evenly distributed activity remains unclear.
The study, published in the journal JAMA, examines the relationship to cardiovascular event risk among the “weekend warrior” pattern of physical activity, where the majority of MVPA is achieved over 1-2 days, and more evenly across many people. There is a pattern to distributed MVPA. Day. The researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank Cohort Study, which focused on participants who provided one full week of accelerometer-based physical activity data between June 8, 2013, and December 30, 2015.
With this data, the researchers compared 3 MVPA patterns. In the active weekend warrior group, participants achieved an MVPA of at least 150 minutes with 50 percent of total activity completed on days 1–2. Participants in the active regular group achieved an MVPA of at least 150 minutes but did not meet the active WW criteria. In the inactive group, participants completed less than 150 minutes of MVPA. They assessed a similar pattern using an average threshold of 230.4 minutes or more of MVPA per week.
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The relationships between these activity patterns and the incidence of atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, heart failure and stroke were analysed. The analysis included 89,573 individuals with an average age of 62, 56 percent of whom were women, who underwent accelerometry. The researchers said the results showed that both focused and evenly distributed activity patterns were associated with an equally reduced risk of all four cardiovascular events.
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That said, the study found that interventions targeting heart health through physical activity can be effective even when focused within 1-2 days per week. According to the researchers, this finding is particularly relevant for individuals with time constraints, as it suggests that shorter timeframes for physical activity can still produce positive results. “Among nearly 90,000 individuals provided wrist-based activity volume, focused physical activity within 1 to 2 days was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular outcomes similar to more regular activity,” the authors said.
“These observations extend prior work reporting improvements in cardiovascular outcomes with increases in moderate and vigorous activity, as well as reports that focused physical activity is associated with a similar reduction in mortality compared with more regular activity,” they said.
The researchers said these findings suggest that engagement in physical activity, regardless of pattern, may optimize risk across a broad spectrum of cardiovascular diseases.