Any level of physical activity linked to improved brain health

Key takeaways:

• Individuals who exercised had lower risks for Parkinson’s, anxiety and depression compared with inactive persons.
• “Weekend warrior” exercise may be effective for those unable to maintain daily routines.

Individuals who engaged in some form of exercise or physical activity on a regular or semi-regular basis demonstrated better brain health compared with inactive individuals, according to research from Nature Aging.

“Given the constraints imposed by modern lifestyles ... adults are increasingly adopting the weekend warrior pattern,” Jiahao Min, from the School of Public Health at Hangzhou Normal University in China, and colleagues wrote. “Exploring the potential association between the weekend warrior exercise pattern and brain health is of great importance.”

The researchers sought to examine the effects of various levels of exercise and physical activity (PA) on overall brain health, as well as associations with various neurological conditions such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, anxiety and depression.

Min and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study using data from individuals enrolled in the U.K. Biobank who participated in an accelerometer-based study. The current analysis included 75,629 participants (mean age, 61.8 years; 44.6% male) tasked with wearing a triaxial device on their dominant wrist for 1 week. They were divided into three distinct categories of PA patterns: inactive (fewer than 150minutes perweek of moderate to vigorous PA, n = 24,365), “weekend warrior” (at least 150minutes perweek with at least 50% of total MVPA occurring within 1 to 2days, n = 29,973) and regularly active (at least 150minutes perweek without meeting weekend warrior criteria, n = 21,291).

Over a median follow up of 8.4 years, 530 individuals in the study were diagnosed with dementia, 1,468 with stroke, 319 with Parkinson’s, 1,507 with depression, 1,794 with anxiety and 18 with bipolar disorder.

Compared with those deemed inactive, weekend warriors had a lower risk for dementia, stroke, PD, depression and anxiety.

The researchers additionally found that those who engaged in some form of regular exercise, regardless of the activity pattern, demonstrated lower risks for PD, anxiety and depression compared with those in the inactive group.

Data also showed that the weekend warrior pattern was associated with lower risks for dementia, stroke, PD, depressive disorders and anxiety compared with a regularly active exercise pattern.

“These findings indicate an increasing prevalence of the weekend warrior pattern among adults, possibly attributed to their busy lifestyle and the convenience of this pattern,” Min and colleagues wrote.