Cramming all your recommended weekly exercise into one or two weekend sessions is enough to produce important health benefits, a study suggests. And being active without managing 150 minutes of moderate activity a week was still enough to reduce the risk of an early death by a third.

Health experts said purposeful exercise was key to better health. They found that no matter how often people exercised in a week or for how long, the health benefits were similar as long as they met the activity guidelines.

This was good news for people with a busy lifestyle who turned into “weekend warriors”, who did all their exercise on one or two days  of the week, in order to fit in all their recommended physical activity, they said. 

Compared with those who didn’t exercise at all, people who did some kind of physical activity – whether regularly or irregularly – showed a lower risk of dying from cancer and from cardiovascular disease (CVD), which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

The study cannot show a direct link between physical activity and a reduction in health risks in individuals.

But extensive research has shown that exercise and a healthy diet can reduce the risk of a range of diseases – such as cancer, heart disease and type-2 diabetes – as well as helping to control weight, blood pressure and reduce symptoms of depression.