Even weekend workouts could help you live longer

During the workweek, time to exercise can quickly slip away. But meeting physical activity targets by cramming workouts into the weekend could actually buy back time in the long run.

A new study reports that people whose physical activity fits a "weekend warrior" pattern might lower the risk of an early death from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other causes. The study defined weekend warriors as people who achieved 150 minutes or more a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity in just one or two days.

Compared with less active people, the study's weekend warriors were 32% less likely to die from any cause over a follow-up period of roughly eight years. Also, they were 31% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 21% less likely to die from cancer during that time. The results were similar among people who met or exceeded physical activity targets but spread their exercise across three or more days a week.

The findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

"You don't need to exercise every day to stay healthy," as long as you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week, study co-author Dr. Zhi-Hao Li said in a news release. Li is an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.

"This message is encouraging news for busy people who struggle to fit in daily workouts but can manage a concentrated burst of activity on weekends or over a couple of days," Li said.

Federal guidelines recommend that each week, adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or an equivalent combination.

In the new study, nearly 43% of participants were classified as weekend warriors, and almost 24% hit the physical activity targets by spreading exercise throughout the week.

The findings build on other research indicating that physical activity doesn't have to be spread out to be healthy. A study published in the journal Circulation last fall showed that getting 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous exercise reduced people's risk of developing more than 200 diseases over a six-year period, regardless of whether the activity was spread out or jammed into a day or two.

For their study, Li and colleagues used records for 93,409 people in the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database in the United Kingdom. Participants ranged from 37 to 73 years old, with an average age of 62. More than half were women. However, the weekend warriors in the study were more likely to be men, younger and have healthier lifestyles.

Noting that 97% of the participants were white, the researchers wrote that further studies are needed to confirm their results in diverse groups of people.

Participant data included physical activity records collected by wrist accelerometers for seven days in 2013-2015. These devices measure movement and can capture exertion from activities as varied as chores, stationary cycling, running and dancing, all of which could help a person meet the physical activity target.

"Any activity – whether structured exercise such as jogging or daily tasks such as gardening – can be included if the intensity is moderate to vigorous," Li said.

Yet for weekend warriors, it's especially important to be careful to avoid injury, said Dr. Keith Diaz, a certified exercise physiologist, in the news release. Diaz, who was not involved in the research, advises warming up before exertion and building up the amount of activity over time.

"Trying to fit 150 minutes of exercise into just one or two days can be a lot on your body," said Diaz, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. "Some research suggests that weekend warriors have a slightly higher risk of musculoskeletal injuries compared to those who exercise more regularly.

"However, the benefits of exercising just on the weekend far outweigh the potential risks."