Want To Live Longer? Try Weekend-Only Exercise, Says New Study

When you factor in things like your morning commute, the hours family need you, work, and the time you spend relaxing because you’re exhausted from work, it can feel impossible to imagine committing to a daily gym routine.

Now, doctors in Australia and China have found it might not take that much commitment after all.  A new study published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome offers a strong argument for lacing up your sneakers and getting moving—even just once or twice per week. The study found that weekend-only exercise can reduce all-cause mortality and lengthen your lifespan.

The research focused on the effects of “weekend warrior” exercise—a pattern in which a person participates in rigorous physical activity only on the weekends. The researchers write that other meta-analyses and observational studies had previously shown that this type of exercise pattern reduced all-cause mortality in the general population. They narrowed their inquiry to determine whether adults with Type 2 diabetes, “who engaged in less physical activity than those without chronic diseases,” experienced the same benefits.

To explore the effects of exercise in this population, the researchers performed a prospective cohort study on 6,067 subjects living with diabetes. They tracked data for a median of 6.1 years, during which 1,206 deaths from all causes were recorded. During that time, the team collected self-reported data on the subjects’ leisure time physical activity—defined as sports, fitness, or recreational activities—as well as their occupational moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), which included work and chore-related activities.

They then categorized the participants into three groups: Physically inactive (less than 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous movement), weekend warrior (150 or more minutes per week in one or two sessions), and physically active (150 or more minutes per week in three or more sessions).

When they compared and analyzed the data from the three sets, their results were encouraging.

“Participants who engaged in weekend warrior or regularly active [physical activity] patterns, regardless of leisure-time, occupational or total activity, experienced approximately 40% – 50% reduced risk of all-cause mortality compared with those in [a] physically inactive pattern,” the study concluded. “By contrast, there was no difference in all-cause mortality between weekend warrior and regularly active participants, suggesting that concentrating the recommended MVPA into fewer sessions or distributing it over more sessions across the week may have similar effects on lowering the risk of all-cause mortality in adults living with type 2 diabetes,” the researchers wrote, adding that no association was found between the intensity of physical activity and mortality.

In other words, weekend-only exercise may be sufficient to reduce all-cause mortality for adults living with Type 2 diabetes, as well as those in the general population…and, you may not have to work that hard.

So, the next time you’re invited to a Saturday pickleball match or considering a long Sunday stroll around the park, don’t be discouraged by your weekday track record. Every little bit counts.

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