We are bombarded every day with messages about hitting the gym and working out on our social channels.Many people seem to find joy in documenting their gym affairs. More power to them! But looking through #gymselfie on Instagram is just one rabbit hole that can be either really freaking inspiring or terribly guilt inducing.
It is high time we stopped gym-shaming ourselves, via social media or elsewhere. Especially because now, research suggests that you can still get serious health benefits—similar to those you get working out regularly—by exercising one or two days a week.
Researchers at Loughborough University in England examined varying self-reported workout habits from more than 60,000 adults from 1994 to 2012. They looked at four groups: "weekend warriors," who did not work out during the week but hit 150 minutes of moderate work or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise over one or two days;
Folks who worked out a couple of times a week (no number of minutes tabbed); people who spread out their workouts; and people who did not exercise. The team also studied the cause of death on death certificates of participants who passed away during the length of the survey (8,802 died!).
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the findings reported that the “weekend warriors” and the two other exerciser groups had lower risks of heart disease and cancer and lower death rates overall than those who did not work out. And guess what? The regular exercisers were only a tad better off than the weekend warriors. Score one for weekday alarm-snoozers!
The takeaway: Although this is not proof that one frequency of exercise over another can prevent disease, do remember that some exercise is still a good thing for keeping healthy. And the mental benefits of exercise—boosting your mood and reducing depression and anxiety—are real no matter how often you go.
Karen Arthur/ghanahospitals.org
