Whether it’s a Saturday pilates class or a Sunday run club, weekend exercise can be a nice way to decompress from the stress of the week. But new research finds that a ”weekend warrior” exercise pattern — just one or two sessions of physical activity during the weekend — could have cognitive benefits.
The study, which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, assessed two sets of survey data from the Mexico City Prospective Study from 1998 to 2004 and from 2015 to 2019. This made up a sample size of a little over 10,000 people, with an average age of 51.
The first survey analyzed exercise patterns, asking participants whether they exercised or played sports, as well as the frequency and duration of their exercise. From these answers, the researchers created four “groups:” no exercisers (7945 respondents), the ‘weekend warriors’ (726), the regularly active (1362), and a combined group of both weekend warriors and the regularly active (2088).
The second survey looked at cognitive function years later, using the Mini Mental State Exam. Those with a lower score indicated mild cognitive impairment, or MCI.
During the monitoring period, 2400 individuals had cases of MCI. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was highest among no exercisers. And after controlling for various influential factors, (such as age, educational attainment, smoking, nightly sleep, diet and alcohol intake), weekend warriors were less likely to develop MCI than those who did not exercise.
In the study, the researchers estimate that about 13 percent of MCI cases could be avoided if all middle aged adults exercised at least once or twice throughout the week.
Given that this is a longitudinal study, more research is needed to assess whether there is a causal relationship between exercise and cognitive function. But it is not a surprise that exercise could be a protector.
“Exercise may increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations and brain plasticity,” the authors write. “Physical activity is also associated with greater brain volume, greater executive function and greater memory.”
