A study shows exactly how often you need to exercise to reduce your risk of dementia, stroke and Parkinson’s disease

Juggling a career and a social life while trying to stay fit and healthy can often seem impossible.

But if new research is to be believed, putting in the effort with just one week of exercise can be just as effective as hitting the gym every day.

Chinese researchers say that “weekend warriors” — people who exercise vigorously just one or two days a week — experience similar mood-boosting benefits.

Researchers who followed more than 75,000 Britons found that they reduced their odds of anxiety and depression by 28 percent compared to inactive people.

Weekend warriors also saw their risk of dementia drop by almost a quarter (23 percent).

The academics behind the research said the results suggest that short bursts of intense exercise may even be a “potential alternative in preventive intervention strategies”.

Experts from Hangzhou Normal University analyzed data from 75,629 participants with an average age of 62 who wore digital wrist-worn devices similar to Apple watches or Fitbits.

Almost a third (32.2 percent) were considered inactive, 28.2 percent participated in regular exercise, and 39.6 percent were considered weekend warriors.

The latter included people who exercised for about 150 minutes or more per week, with at least 50 percent occurring over two days.

During an average follow-up of 8 years, 530 people were diagnosed with dementia, 1,468 with stroke, 319 with Parkinson’s disease, 1,507 with depression and 1,794 with anxiety.

Researchers found that weekend warriors cut the risk of stroke by 13 percent and Parkinson’s disease by nearly half (49 percent) compared to inactive warriors.

In the journal Nature Aging, the researchers write: “The weekend warrior pattern, characterized by bouts of concentrated high-volume moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over 1-2 days, is associated with similar reduced risk of brain disorders as the regularly active pattern.

However, the researchers acknowledged that the study had “several limitations,” including only participants between the ages of 43 and 79.

“Caution should be exercised in generalizing these findings to populations outside a specific age range, such as those aged 80 and over,” they said.

They added that wrist-worn devices may also “not fully capture certain activities, such as stationary cycling, which may lead to inaccuracies.”

Physical activity levels can vary too much with age, and the study did not account for changes over the volunteers’ lifetimes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.

Sedentary lifestyles in the UK, where Britons spend their working hours at their desks and then take the train or car home to sit in front of the TV, are estimated to kill thousands of people every year.

According to one 2019 estimate, 70,000 people die each year as a result of health problems costing the NHS £700m to treat each year.

A 2018 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that nearly one in ten (8.3 percent) of all adult deaths in the country were caused by physical inactivity.

According to the WHO, the number of deaths caused by physical inactivity is around 2 million per year worldwide, making it one of the top 10 causes of death and disability worldwide.

Physical inactivity has long been associated with health problems such as cardiovascular disease, as well as health problems such as obesity, which itself is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

Cardiovascular disease is commonly associated with the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries, which can cause dangerous blockages that can trigger a heart attack or stroke.

Stokes is considered a leading cause of both death and disability in the UK, killing around 38,000 people a year and maiming many more.

According to the CDC, an estimated 160,000 people die of stroke in the United States each year, with one American suffering a stroke every 40 seconds.