How much exercise is necessary for a healthy body and mind? Scientists have provided an answer. In fact, if you want to avoid chronic diseases and improve your health, you don’t need to spend a lot of time exercising throughout the week.
In fact, just exercising one day a week can benefit your health as much as exercising the entire week, but the total duration of physical activities should be 150 minutes or more. This was revealed in a new medical study conducted in the USA.
In this research from Massachusetts General Hospital, data from over 90,000 individuals was analyzed. This data was collected by having participants wear trackers to monitor the duration of their physical activities and to determine when they were most physically active.
The participants were divided into three groups based on their physical activity duration. One group consisted of individuals who were accustomed to exercising daily, the second group included those who exercised once a week, while the third group comprised those who remained physically active for less than 150 minutes each week.
After analyzing the medical records of these individuals, the study examined the relationship between physical activities and mental health, digestive system, nervous system, and 678 other physical ailments.
The results showed that compared to those who remained inactive, individuals who exercised daily or once a week had a reduced risk of being affected by over 200 diseases. According to the research, exercising once a week can reduce the risk of various diseases such as high blood pressure by 23 to 28 percent over the next six years. Similarly, the risk of diabetes decreases by 43 to 46 percent.
Researchers noted that the benefits of daily exercise and exercising once a week being similar indicates that the total duration of physical activities holds more importance. They further stated that it has been previously proven that moderate to vigorous exercise once a week reduces the risk of heart and vascular diseases.
They emphasized that our research shows that even exercising once a week reduces the risk of various diseases, from chronic kidney diseases to mental health disorders. The results of this study were published in the journal Circulation.
Previously, a study published in August 2024 in the journal Nature Aging found that there is nearly the same benefit in protecting against various mental disorders such as depression and anxiety from exercising daily or once a week.
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