Exercising even once a week is better than no physical activity, said Dr Sudhir Kumar, a Hyderabad-based neurologist.
The doctor, popularly known as ‘Hyderabaddoctor’ on X.com, said this on the social media platform along with a recent study on the benefits of people who do physical activity only on weekends – known as weekend warriors.
“Are you busy for regular exercise? Exercise only on weekends to get similar mortality benefits,” he wrote on X.
The study, published in the journal BMJ, followed more than 150,000 adults over about two decades.
The findings showed that people who exercised once or twice a week had a 15 percent lower risk of death, similar to those who exercised 3 or more days a week.
However, the benefit was only apparent when the exercise duration was at least 30-60 minutes.
“The results suggest that even busy adults could benefit from participating in one or two exercises per week,” said study researchers from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.
“Exercise as often as you can: even once a week is better than no exercise. Make sure you exercise for 30-60 minutes,” said a doctor from Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends “at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week.”
In an earlier post, the doctor vouched for “a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training.”
“For optimal benefit, it may be better to combine aerobic exercise (2-3 days per week) and strength training (2-3 days per week) (with one rest day per week),” said the neurologist.
