If you can’t fit exercise into your life during the week, don’t worry — you’ll get the same benefits if you only break a sweat on the weekends.
That’s what an international team of researchers found in a study that was just published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Based on data from 350,000 adults in the U.S. whose activity was tracked for more than a decade, those who exercised daily and those who did so for the same amount of time, but crammed into the weekend, both saw reduction in the rates of premature death from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases.
Experts recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate, or 75 minutes of vigorous, exercise for 18- to 64-year-olds, according to the experts. The people whose activity was studied could either do that in larger chunks, say all on a Saturday, or spread it out throughout the week — say with a brisk walk five days a week.
Either way, they saw the health benefits compared to those for whom a workout is switching from Netflix to regular TV.
In fact, those who worked out regularly enjoyed a 15% lower rate of death as compared to the sedentary — however, those who only worked out on the weekends saw an 8% reduction in premature death.