November 20, 2024
Most of us have heard the mantra: Exercise is good for the brain. And many of us would like to exercise more but have trouble finding the time to fit workouts into our daily schedules during a busy week.
A new study suggests a more workable workaround for the overscheduled among us: Focus on getting exercise over the weekend. The study found that a “weekend warrior” approach to exercise, in which you complete just one or two sessions of sports or other physical activity on days off, may be as effective for boosting brain health as completing more frequent exercise sessions throughout the week.
For the study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers reviewed data from the Mexico City Prospective Study, a long-running study of Latino adults. Drawing on health surveys and medical records from 1998 to 2004, and again from 2015 to 2019, the researchers collected data on more than 10,000 men and women whose average age was 51.
Study participants completed surveys about their exercise habits, including whether they exercised or played sports and, if so, how many times a week and for how long. The respondents fell into four groups: those who didn’t exercise (or rarely exercised); the “weekend warriors” who exercised once or twice a week; those who exercised regularly three or more times a week; and a group who combined a weekend warrior pattern with regular activity. Around half of the “weekend warriors” reported exercising for at least 30 minutes per session, while the rest exercised for about an hour or more each time.
In the later years of the study, participants also underwent Mini Mental State Exams, or MMSEs, a set of 11 questions that doctors commonly use to assess memory and cognitive health. A lower score on the MMSE can be used to identify mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, a form of brain impairment marked by serious memory problems that can eventually progress to full-blown Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.
During an average monitoring period of 16 years, researchers identified 2,400 cases of MCI. The researchers considered various factors that can affect brain health, such as age, education level, smoking, obesity and alcohol intake. After adjusting for these factors, they found that compared with the no-exercise group, weekend warriors were 13 percent less likely to develop MCI, while the regularly active and those in the combined group were 12 percent less likely to do so. The results were similar for both men and women.
The research team concluded that about 13 percent of cases of mild dementia could be avoided if all middle-aged people exercised at least once or twice a week.
“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,” the authors concluded. The findings, they say, may have important public health implications, “because the weekend warrior physical activity pattern may be a more convenient option for busy people in Latin America and elsewhere.”
The study showed only an association and cannot prove cause and effect. But the authors speculate that exercise, whether it is performed throughout the week or in a burst on weekend, may increase levels of brain chemicals that support the growth and survival of neurons. Physical activity is also associated with greater brain volume, which has been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings come on the heels of another recent analysis from the American Heart Association that found that weekend warrior workouts could be as effective as more frequent exercise in lowering the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, and some 200 other diseases.
Other research has shown that informal activities like dancing or going for walks with a friend can be as beneficial as scheduled workouts or team sports in helping to lower dementia risk. In addition to the physical benefits of such activities, they also provide social interaction and connections that can help to keep the brain fit.
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Eric Schmidt, Ph.D. Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Gary O’Donovan, Fanny Petermann Rocha, Gerson Ferrari, et al: “Associations of the ‘weekend warrior’ physical activity pattern with mild dementia: findings from the Mexico City Prospective Study.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, October 29, 2024
