Do Weekend Warriors Get Health Benefits From Exercise?

Regular physical activity is essential for maintaining and improving health. New research from Mass General Brigham, published in Circulation, shows that people who exercise have significantly lower risk for hundreds of diseases compared with people who are inactive.

But to realize those benefits, you may be wondering: “How often should I exercise?” or “How many times a week should I work out?” The same study shows that “weekend warriors” — those who get most of their physical activity over just 1 or 2 days per week — get the same benefits as those who exercise more often.

“Our research shows that it’s important for people to get guideline-recommended levels of physical activity — 2.5 hours per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity. But they can get that exercise however it is going to work best with their lifestyle,” says Shaan Khurshid, MD, MPH, a Mass General Brigham cardiac electrophysiologist who cares for patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s the total volume of physical activity that appears to matter the most, rather than the pattern.”

National and international exercise guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week. Some health care providers and guidelines get more specific, suggesting 30 minutes 5 times per week.

But many Americans are considered “weekend warriors.” They get the recommended 150 minutes squeezed into only 1 or 2 days per week. “This can manifest itself in a variety of ways, for example, skiing for a day, playing soccer in a game that lasts 2 hours, or going for a long run on Saturday,” Dr. Khurshid says.

He and his team sought to understand whether that condensed exercise pattern affected the protective effects of exercise.

Both patterns of regular exercise reduce risk of many diseases.

The study included almost 90,000 people who wore activity trackers on their wrists for one week. Based on data from the activity trackers, the research team put participants into one of three groups: inactive, weekend warrior activity, and regular activity. Over 6 years, the researchers looked at whether those groups were at more or less risk for 678 different diseases.

The group who participated in regular activity and the weekend warriors both had much lower rates of many of the diseases. The biggest benefits were in cardiometabolic diseases, such as:

• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Sleep apnea
• Obesity

But the study also found a relationship between exercise and lower risk of other diseases, including:

• Chronic kidney disease
• Gallstones
• Esophageal diseases
• Mental health disorders such as anxiety, and more

Weekend warriors had significantly lower risk of 264 diseases compared with people who were inactive. And they did not have a higher risk of any disease than the group of more frequent exercisers.

“Our study shows that the pattern in which you get your physical activity doesn’t appear to matter. It can be dictated more by your lifestyle and what works for you, whatever helps you be successful and consistent,” Dr. Khurshid says. “So rather than asking yourself, ‘how many days a week should I work out?’ — think instead about the total time over the course of a week.”

Additional health benefits of regular exercise

In addition to protecting you from disease, exercise has many other benefits:

• Boosts mood and relieves stress
• Enhances brain health
• Helps control body weight
• Improves sleep
• Reduces risk of falls
• Helps maintain healthy arteries and lowers blood pressure
• Strengthens bones and muscles

“I often see patients who have a suspicion for a cardiac condition. This research highlights that there are measures that could have been taken or steps identified earlier that could have prevented the onset of certain diseases,” Dr. Khurshid says. “And even after a condition is diagnosed, we still know that implementing lifestyle changes, for example getting exercise and reducing sedentary time, can reduce the burden of disease, reduce the symptoms related to it, and increase the effectiveness of the treatments we have.”