Being a “weekend warrior” is just as effective as regular weekly exercise in reducing the risk of developing more than 200 diseases, according to a new study out of Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Results of the study are published in Circulation.

CDC guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week for overall health. Among people who meet these recommendations, those who exercise 20-30 minutes most days of the week experience benefits equal to those who go five to six days between longer exercise sessions.

The team analyzed information on 89,573 individuals in the prospective U.K. Biobank study who wore wrist accelerometers that recorded their total physical activity and time spent at different exercise intensities over one week. Participants’ physical activity patterns were categorized as weekend warrior, regular, or inactive, using the guideline-based threshold of 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

The team then looked for associations between physical activity patterns and incidence of 678 conditions across 16 types of diseases, including mental health, digestive, neurological, and other categories.

The investigators’ analyses revealed that weekend warrior and regular physical activity patterns were each associated with substantially lower risks of 264 diseases compared with inactivity. Associations were strongest for cardiometabolic conditions such as hypertension (23 percent and 28 percent lower risks over a median of six years with weekend warrior and regular exercise, respectively) and diabetes (43 percent and 46 percent lower risks, respectively). However, associations also spanned all disease categories tested.

“Because there appears to be similar benefits for weekend warrior versus regular activity, it may be the total volume of activity, rather than the pattern, that matters most.”

Shaan Khurshid

“Because there appears to be similar benefits for weekend warrior versus regular activity, it may be the total volume of activity, rather than the pattern, that matters most,” said co-senior author Shaan Khurshid, a faculty member in the Demoulas Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias at MGH.

“Future interventions testing the effectiveness of concentrated activity to improve public health are warranted, and patients should be encouraged to engage in guideline-adherent physical activity using any pattern that may work best for them,” he added.

Authorship: Shinwan Kany, Mostafa A. Al-Alusi, Joel T. Rämö, James P. Pirruccello, Timothy W. Churchill, Steven A. Lubitz, Mahnaz Maddah, J. Sawalla Guseh, Patrick T. Ellinor, and Shaan Khurshid.

Disclosures:  Ellinor receives sponsored research support from Bayer AG, IBM Research, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Novo Nordisk; he has also served on advisory boards or consulted for MyoKardia and Bayer AG. Lubitz is an employee of Novartis as of July 2022 and received sponsored research support from Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fitbit, Medtronic, Premier, and IBM, and has consulted for Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Blackstone Life Sciences, and Invitae.

This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (K08HL159346, K23HL159262-01A1, 1RO1HL092577, 1R01HL157635, 5R01HL139731, 18SFRN34230127, 961045, R01HL157635, T32HL007208, K23HL169839-01., the Walter Benjamin Fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (521832260), the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the American Heart Association (19AMFDP34990046, 18SFRN34230127, 961045, 18SFRN34250007, 2023CDA1050571), the president and fellows of Harvard College (5KL2TR002542-04), the European Union (MAESTRIA 965286).