Similar Mortality Benefit Seen for Concentrated, Evenly Spread Physical Activity
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, April 2, 2025 -- Engaging in physical activity concentrated within one to two days is associated with a similar reduction in mortality risk as active regular physical activity, according to a study published online April 2 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Dan-Qing Liao, M.D., from the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues used data from the U.K. Biobank to examine the effect of concentrated versus evenly distributed physical activity on health outcomes. Three patterns of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were defined: inactive, active weekend warrior (where most MVPA is completed in one to two days), and active regular (more evenly spread MVPA pattern).
The researchers found that 3,965 adults died from all causes during an 8.1-year median follow-up, including 667 from cardiovascular diseases and 1,780 from cancer. Compared with the inactive group, lower mortality risk was seen for both the active weekend warrior group (hazard ratios, 0.68, 0.69, and 0.79 for all-cause death, cardiovascular disease death, and cancer death, respectively) and the active regular group (hazard ratios, 0.74, 0.76, and 0.87, respectively) after following the recommended 150 minutes of MVPA per week. No discernable difference in mortality risk was seen between the active regular and active weekend warrior groups.
"This large prospective cohort study, which used objective accelerometer data to measure physical activity, suggests that MVPA concentrated within one or two days per week has similar benefits on all-cause and cause-specific death as more evenly distributed activity," the authors write.
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Posted April 2025
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