If you can’t make room for exercise Monday through Friday, it’s okay because weekend workouts can be just as effective in improving your health.
More specifically, exercising on the weekends can protect your brain health, slashing your risk of developing dementia by 25 percent.
For 16 years, a study tracked more than 10,000 adults and found that “weekend warriors” had a 25 percent lower risk of developing mild dementia than those who did not exercise at all.
The finding is significant for working adults who struggle to fit in regular exercise throughout the week. The research suggests that exercising once or twice on the weekend could still shield your brain from the effects of aging.
“To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first prospective cohort study to show that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern and the regularly active physical activity pattern are associated with similar reductions in the risk of mild dementia,” said the study authors.
The study was led by Dr. Gary O’Donovan from the University of the Andes. It is the first in Latin America to investigate the correlation between exercise patterns and dementia risk. Most research of this kind has been restricted to wealthy nations in North America and Europe.
The team monitored 10,033 adults with an average age of 51 in Mexico City. At the beginning of the study, the participants were asked about their exercise habits, blood pressure, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, body mass index, sleep patterns, education, and income.
Then, they were split into three groups: those who didn’t exercise, weekend warriors who exercised once or twice a week, and regularly active people who exercised three or more times a week.
After 16 years, the participants took the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), a standard cognitive test, to evaluate their mental function. The test measures mental aspects such as attention, memory, and language skills.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
The results revealed that weekend warriors and regular exercisers performed better cognitively than non-exercisers.
For non-exercisers, the average cognitive test score was 24.5, compared to 25.8 for weekend warriors and 25.6 for regular exercisers.
Mild dementia is defined as a score of 22 or lower, and 26 percent of non-exercisers met this criterion. On the other hand, only 14 percent of weekend warriors and 18.5 percent of regular exercisers did.
If all middle-aged adults worked out at least once or twice per week, an estimated 13 percent of dementia cases could be prevented.
Dementia costs almost $3.8 billion annually in Mexico alone. A 13 percent reduction means about $378 million in savings per year.
The discovery is especially pertinent since dementia cases are projected to rise from 57 million globally in 2019 to 153 million by 2050. The number of people living with dementia in Latin America is expected to triple by 2050.
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
