A “weekend warrior” exercise schedule can lower diabetics’ risk of early death, a new study says.

People with diabetes who get all their recommended weekly exercise in one or two sessions – the “weekend warrior” approach – were 21% less likely to die early from any cause than their counterparts who don’t work out, researchers report today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They also were 33% less likely to die from heart disease, results show.

“These findings reinforce the importance of flexible physical activity patterns for people with diabetes as they can improve insulin sensitivity and glycemic control — especially for those who face barriers to maintaining regularly routine exercise,” concluded the research team led by Zhiyuan Wu, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

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Exercise guidelines recommend that people get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week to maintain their health, researchers said in background notes. Moderate activity can include brisk walking, slow bicycling, active yoga, ballroom dancing and general yard work.

However, it’s not always easy to find time to work out, researchers said.

“Many people struggle to engage in regular physical activity throughout the week due to time constraints,” researchers said. “To overcome this, some condense their recommended (physical activity) into one or two weekly sessions — a pattern known as the ‘weekend warrior’ approach.”

For this study, researchers analyzed data gathered from nearly 52,000 people with diabetes between 1997 and 2018 as part of the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The survey included questions on people’s exercise patterns. Researchers compared that to 2019 death certificate data, to see whether physical activity made a difference.

Not only did “weekend warrior” workouts reduce risk of premature death, they actually appeared to be more effective than regular exercise spaced out three or more times across a week, the team found.

Folks with diabetes who met exercise guidelines with three or more shorter workouts weekly had a 17% lower risk of death from any cause and 19% lower risk of heart-related death, compared with those who don’t work out, results show.

However, researchers noted that the observational study couldn’t draw a direct cause-and-effect link between exercise and lower risk of death.

Future studies should more comprehensively track people’s daily physical activity, including the exercise they might get as a part of their work or communte, researchers said.