Weekend work-outs help the healthy live years longer

CRAMMING in the recommended weekly amount of exercise at the weekend appears to offer some health benefits for otherwise healthy men, new research reports.

Experts urge people to get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, or a smaller amount of high-intensity exercise at least three times per week, to burn a total of 1,000 or more extra calories per week.

However, researchers now report that healthy men who burned off at least 1,000 calories during one or two weekly bursts of activity were 60% less likely to die over a 10-year period than sedentary men, who expended less than 500 extra calories per week.

“Physical activity is good for health - anything is better than none,” study author Dr I-Min Lee of Harvard University in Boston said.

However, men who had at least one significant health concern at the outset of the study - such as smokers and overweight men - were no less likely to die than sedentary men, suggesting their weekend bursts of activity did not protect their health.