By Michael Roizen, M.D., And Mehmet Oz, M.D.


The Weekend Warrior: Some exercise is better than none

In the 2015-16 season, the Golden State Warriors posted the best single-season win/loss record (73-9) in NBA history. But at the end of the season, when it came to the finals, they lost four out of seven games - and the NBA Championship - to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So sad for those Warriors.

By contrast, Weekend Warriors have many reasons to be happy. A British study of more than 63,000 adults found that folks who exercised once or twice a week for either 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise had a 30 percent lower risk of an early death from all causes, a 40 percent decreased mortality rate from cardiovascular disease and an 18 percent reduced mortality rate from cancer, compared with inactive adults.

Regularly active adults, those who get exercise throughout the week, did have the lowest risk of early death, but this unusual study shows that if the best you can do is cram your week's worth of physical activity into a weekend, that is far better than doing nothing!

Do we recommend it? We'd rather see you get in 10,000 steps daily; 20 min of cardio three times weekly; 20 minutes of resistance exercises weekly; and 20 jumps twice daily. That'll make your RealAge 8.1 (men) to 9 (women) years younger. But if you are time-challenged, do get a good workout whenever you can! Then take a post-exercise Epsom salt bath, a couple of 81-mg aspirins (with your doc's OK) and 900 mg of omega-3 algal oil daily. That'll help keep you running smoothly.

© 2017 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.

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