Why you DON’T need to go to the gym every day: ‘Weekend warriors’ reduce their risk of an early death

Exercising just once or twice a week in middle-age slashes the risk of an early death, a major study has found.

‘Weekend warriors’ – those who are too busy to keep fit during the week – reduce their risk of dying from any cause by 30 per cent.

While those who make time to attend the gym or go for a jog each day only reap an extra 5 per cent benefit. 

The findings, based on health data from more than 63,000 British adults, offers hope to the many adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s who exercise on Saturdays and Sundays.

The NHS and World Health Organisation recommend people each week do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise such as cycling, walking or gardening, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise such as running.

As long as people exercise at least once a week their chance of an early death is significantly reduced, new research suggests

But the new study suggests that as long as people exercise at least once a week, even if they do not hit these targets, their chance of an early death is significantly reduced.

Those who do the full allocation of recommended exercise tend to be even healthier – but of these people it makes very little difference if they cram it all into one or two sessions or split it up into daily sessions.

Very few people hit the NHS target – with polls suggesting 44 per cent of people in Britain do no regular exercise at all.

So experts are keen to work out how to make it easier for people to fit an active lifestyle into their busy lives.

• Scientists discover teeth can be REGROWN with an Alzheimer’s…

  Pregnant women who take heartburn medication are more likely…

  Self-conscious student, 20, who didn’t want his picture…

  Conjoined twins who share a single body with two heads…

The new study, by researchers at Loughborough University, Harvard Medical School in the US, and Sydney University in Australia, suggests cramming weekly exercise into just one or two sessions is almost as good as exercising more regularly.

The team, whose results are published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, tracked people over the age of 40 for an average nine years.

They found people who exercised regularly – defined as more than three times a week – were 35 per cent less likely to die from any cause in the study period than those who were completely inactive.

‘Weekend warriors’ – those who exercised once or twice a week and still hit the guidelines – were 30 per cent less likely than inactive people to die.

Compared with those who do no exercise, regular exercisers reduced their risk of death from cancer by 21 per cent (stock)

Those who exercised one or twice a week, but did not hit the guidelines, were 34 per cent less like to die.

When they analysed deaths broken up according to specific diseases, the team found similar trends.

Compared with those who do no exercise, regular exercisers reduced their risk of death from cancer by 21 per cent, weekend warriors by 18 per cent, and those who exercised at least once a week but did not hit the target by 17 per cent.

Looking at deaths from cardiovascular disease, regular exercisers were 41 per cent less likely to die, weekend warriors 40 per cent less and those who exercised but did not hit targets also 40 per cent less.

The authors, led by Gary O’Donovan of Loughborough University, wrote: ‘The present study suggests that some leisure time physical activity is better than none … and that, in those who reported meeting physical activity guidelines, frequency and duration did not matter.

‘A particularly encouraging finding was that a physical activity frequency as low as one or two sessions per week was associated with lower mortality risks, even in the insufficiently active.

‘Millions of people in England enjoy running, cycling, and sports participation at least once per week.

‘Our weekend warrior participants undertook a large proportion of vigorous-intensity physical activity, and quality may be more important than quantity.’

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis from the University of Sydney added: ‘It is very encouraging news that being physically active on just one or two occasions per week is associated with a lower risk of death, even among people who do some activity but don’t quite meet recommended exercise levels.

‘However, for optimal health benefits from physical activity it is always advisable to meet and exceed the physical activity recommendations.’