Weekend-only workouts 'still give an important health boost'

Conclusion This survey aimed to investigate patterns of physical activity in adults over the age of 40 and the potential impact on their cause of death. The study found that, compared with those who were not physically active, all active groups saw a reduction in their risk of death from any cause and cardiovascular disease. Being active at the weekend only had no effect on cancer mortality. However, interpretations around the optimal level of activity are difficult when you note that insufficient activity gave similar mortality reductions as the recommended regular activity. This study has both strengths and limitations. It is a very large study and data was collected using validated tools and other reliable sources. The main limitation, however, is it's not able to prove that the amount of exercise taken is responsible for any reductions in risk of death. There may be a number of unmeasured health, lifestyle and sociodemographic factors at play here. Also, the weekend warriors only made up a small proportion of the total study population at 3.9%. Analyses involving smaller numbers of people are less reliable, and this may have been why some of the findings were significant and others not. It's hard to be sure that these are reliable estimates. The study also only looked at links with cardiovascular and cancer deaths – not at diagnoses of these conditions. The research team acknowledged a number of other limitations themselves: Most of the participants were whit...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Cancer Source Type: news