Exercise and Heart Disease: Saving Workouts for the Weekend

At most times it is difficult to fit in that daily work out in to our busy schedules. But can weekend exercise binges make up for it?

Depends on how healthy you are. If you have health-related risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or excess pounds to lose, burning the recommended 1,000 calories per week in just one or two exercise sessions doesn't appear to improve longevity. But spread that calorie-burning over four or five sessions during the week and you've got the makings of a longer, healthier life.

Exercise has short-term and long-term effects, but the short-term effects might be closely tied to the long-term benefits. For example, take a brisk walk and you'll immediately enjoy a lower systolic blood pressure. But that immediate benefit lasts for only a couple of hours. And if you walk only once a week -- whether it's for 20 minutes or 2 hours -- your heart is enjoying that short-term benefit just once a week. So long term, your health may not be impacted as much as if you'd walked every day.

Another example? Triglycerides. Exercise, and your triglycerides will be lower within a 24-hour period. Exercise every day and they'll be progressively lower after 4 days. But if you exercise just once on the weekend, you probably won't get the same cumulative benefits.