According to a study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), both so-called ‘weekend warriors’, who are only active one or two days a week, and people with a regular exercise pattern have a lower risk of developing more than 260 of the 678 diseases examined. This applies in particular to cardiometabolic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, sleep apnoea and obesity. On the other hand, there is a slightly increased risk of musculoskeletal and dermatological diseases.
It was irrelevant for the benefit of the sporting activity whether the activity was regularly distributed throughout the week or concentrated on one or two days - as long as the minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise, as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was achieved.
Original publication: Associations of “Weekend Warrior” Physical Activity With Incident Disease and Cardiometabolic Health. Kany et al., Circulation, 2024.
Source: press release UKE (in German only)
