People with diabetes are often told to exercise regularly to stay healthy. But busy schedules or health issues can make it hard to be active every day.
A new study now shows that even if people only exercise on the weekends, they can still lower their risk of dying from any cause or from heart disease.
This study was done by researchers from top universities including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston University, and Vanderbilt University.
They looked at the health records of over 51,000 American adults who said they had diabetes. The data came from a large national health survey called the National Health Interview Survey, collected from 1997 to 2018.
The goal was to see how different patterns of exercise affected how long people lived. The current health guidelines suggest doing at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (like brisk walking or cycling) each week. This should be spread out over at least three days.
Researchers divided the people into four groups based on how much and how often they exercised. The first group didn’t do any exercise at all. The second group exercised a little but didn’t reach the 150-minute goal.
The third group were called “weekend warriors”—they exercised 150 minutes or more but only on one or two days each week. The last group was “regularly active”—these people also met the 150-minute goal but spread their exercise over at least three days.
The findings were clear. Compared to people who didn’t exercise at all, those who did some activity had lower chances of dying from any cause. The weekend warriors had a 21% lower risk of dying early, and the regularly active people had a 17% lower risk.
When it came to dying from heart disease, the numbers were even more striking. Weekend warriors had a 33% lower risk, and regularly active people had a 19% lower risk.
However, when it came to dying from cancer, exercise made less of a difference. There weren’t big changes between the groups when it came to cancer-related deaths.
This study is important because it shows that you don’t have to work out every day to get health benefits. Even if you only have time to exercise on the weekend, it can still make a big difference—especially for people with diabetes, who are at higher risk of heart disease and early death.
