Exercise has been studied extensively and shown to decrease the incidence of diseases ranging from depression to cardiovascular disease (heart attacks, heart failure and stroke) to diabetes to even pneumonia. How much and how often one needs to exercise is a more difficult question.
A recent study from American Heart Association’s journal Circulation shed some light on the answer by looking at 89,000 individuals, half of which got their exercise spread throughout the week and the other half got most of their exercise on weekends. Total weekly exercise for both groups was greater than 150 minutes. Both groups saw decreases in these chronic conditions by a half to one third compared to non-exercisers.
This is good news for those of us that have so little time to exercise knowing that concentrating exercise to weekends is still beneficial. However, please remember that the decrease in chronic disease is even more pronounced as the duration and intensity of exercise increases. Summary: Just Do It
Dr. Charlie Barnett is a contributor at KnoxTNToday for a weekly column, DocTalk, providing his expertise on health and wellness management.
