Exercising even once a week is better than not: Expert

New Delhi, March 23: Worried about not being able to work out daily? 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 doing physical activity only on weekends -- known as weekend warriors.

“Too busy to exercise on a regular basis? Exercise only on weekends to derive similar mortality benefits,” he wrote on X.

The study, published in the journal BMJ, followed more than 150,000 adults for about two decades.

The findings showed that people who exercised once or twice per week had a 15 per cent lower risk of death, similar to those who worked out on 3 or more days per week. However, the benefit was evident only when the duration of exercise sessions was at least 30-60 min.

“The results suggest that even busy adults could benefit from taking part in one or two sessions of exercise per week,” said the researchers of the study from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.

“Exercise as often as you can: exercising even once a week is better than not exercising. Ensure that the exercise session is of 30-60 minute duration,” said the doctor, from Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends “at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week”.

In an earlier post, the doctor vouched for a “combination of aerobic exercises and strength training”.

“It may be better to combine aerobic exercises (on 2-3 days a week), and strength training (on 2-3 days a week) (with one rest day per week), for optimum benefits,” the neurologist said.