A new study shows that being physically active, even just on weekends, can lower the risk of death for people with diabetes.
The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that both “weekend warriors” and those who exercise regularly throughout the week have a lower risk of dying from any cause or from heart-related problems than people who do not exercise at all.
The study was done by researchers from several institutions, including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston University, Vanderbilt University, and Capital Medical University.
They looked at data from 51,650 adults who said they had diabetes and took part in the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2018.
Current health guidelines recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week, spread out over at least three days.
The researchers divided the participants into four groups based on how active they were: inactive (no physical activity), insufficiently active (less than 150 minutes per week), weekend warriors (150 or more minutes on just one or two days), and regularly active (150 or more minutes spread across at least three days).
They found that people who were even a little bit active had a lower risk of death than those who were inactive. The weekend warriors and regularly active groups had the biggest benefits.
Compared to inactive people, weekend warriors had a 21% lower risk of dying from any cause and a 33% lower risk of dying from heart problems. People who were regularly active had a 17% lower risk of all-cause death and a 19% lower risk of death from heart disease.
There was not much difference in cancer-related deaths between the groups, but the benefits for overall health and heart health were clear. The study highlights that any physical activity—even if it’s all on the weekend—can make a big difference for people with diabetes.
This research supports the idea that it’s not just how often you exercise, but also how much total activity you get that matters. For people with busy schedules, fitting in physical activity on the weekends can still lead to important health benefits.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that MIND diet may reduce risk of vision loss disease, and Vitamin D could benefit people with diabetic neuropathic pain.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies that Vitamin E could help reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance in diabetes, and results showing eating eggs in a healthy diet may reduce risks of diabetes, high blood pressure.
The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
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