2 weeks Ago By Jose Torres
AUSTIN - (KXAN) - A new study offers good news for busy adults struggling to squeeze exercise into their weekly routine. If you can only work out on the weekends, you may still enjoy major health benefits. Finding community through sweat and friendship: The story of SweatPals“The most important exercise regimen is the regimen that the person sitting in front of us can comply with,” explained Dr.
Vivek Goswami, a cardiologist with Heart Hospital of Austin and Austin Heart. “If that individual needs to rely on the weekend to get all of their exercise, so be it, there's still some benefit there.”Trouble sleeping? Austin sleep apnea trial could help transform lives and treatment optionsTraditionally, health guidelines have emphasized spreading physical activity throughout the week - at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
But life sometimes doesn’t always allow for consistency. Work schedules, family obligations, and other responsibilities often push exercise to the bottom of the weekday to-do list. Group yoga classes available in Austin through SweatPals (Photo Jose Torres)“A sedentary lifestyle clearly is not good for our health, right?” said the cardiologist.
“That contributes to a relative caloric excess, obesity, metabolic syndromes, hypertension, sleep apnea, increased inflammation and a host of other issues. We really should be viewing exercise as a prescription, not just a recommendation. if there's a day, or in this case, a week, where we go without exercising, that should be considered not taking our medication, right?”Promising new blood test could catch colon cancer early, expand screening optionsNow, research from a study involving more than 90,000 participants suggests that it’s not necessarily how often you exercise that matters most, but rather how much.
“I think the message is, is that if you can't get that exercise in on a day to day basis, don't necessarily hang it up or give up. Getting that 150 minutes in just on a weekend is certainly suggestive of similar benefits of daily exercise,” said Dr. Goswami.
The study, conducted using data from the UK Biobank and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that individuals who concentrated their physical activity into two days a week - commonly referred to as ‘weekend warriors’ - experienced similar benefits, including living longer, like those who exercised more regularly throughout the week. How to crush your 2025 health goals: Expert’s tips for staying on track all yearBoth groups showed lower risks of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. As long as participants met the recommended 150-minute threshold of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, their risk of premature death decreased significantly, regardless of how that activity was distributed.
Group yoga classes available in Austin through SweatPals (Photo Jose Torres)Dr. Goswami says his job is to keep people healthy and focus on preventative steps."Often times, especially in the cardiology world, people don't come to see us unless it's too late.
They've already had a heart problem, they've had a heart attack, or they have heart failure defibrillators, etc,” Dr. Goswami said. “We would much rather see that patient before they have all those health problems, and hopefully take very strategic, personalized steps to.
”Pregnant Texas mom beats Stage 3 breast cancer, shares story to support life-saving researchSleep could be another factor that causes people to skip a day of workouts. Health experts agree that sleep will set you up for success.“It's huge.
I think it's something that we miss quite frequently as healthcare providers, we do things like measure blood pressure and blood sugars and cholesterol, but oftentimes we're not asking patients pointed questions about how much sleep they're getting and evaluate the quality of their sleep,” the cardiologist explained. “instead of adding medications to a lot of these folks regimens we should be getting to the core of the issue that's creating that, and oftentimes that's lack of good quality sleep and poor nutrition and poor exercise.”Father of four diagnosed with stage 4 cancer: A journey of hope, family, and resilienceAmong the over 90,000 individuals analyzed, about 43% were classified as active weekend warriors, while 24% were regularly active throughout the week.
The remaining 34% were considered inactive. Results showed that both active groups, regardless of workout frequency, had significantly lower mortality rates compared to the inactive group. This research may ease the minds of people the belief that health benefits only come with frequent, consistent workouts.
Instead, it underscores the importance of total activity time over frequency. The summary of this study is that you don’t need to be perfect with five workouts a week - you just need to move and getting to that mindset requires investing in the basics. “I would encourage people to get the basics right, which is eating well, exercising and make sure you get your rest,” Dr.
Goswami said..
