Exercising once a week 'as healthy as exercising a little every day' Dr Ian Janssen, of Queen's University, Toronto, said: "The findings indicate it does not matter how adults choose to accumulate their 150 weekly minutes of physical activity." Dr Janssen said: "For instance, someone who did not perform any physical activity on Monday to Friday but was active for 150 minutes over the weekend would obtain the same health benefits from their activity as someone who accumulated 150 minutes of activity over the week by doing 20-25 minutes of activity on a daily basis." The important message is adults should aim to accumulate at least 150 minutes of weekly physical activity in whatever pattern that works for their schedule. Dr Janssen and colleagues attached a motion detector to the waists of 2,324 men and woman aged between 18 and 64. The tiny electrical actical accelerometer, about the size of a small package of matches, records how much a person moves every minute. The adults who met the physical activity advice of more than 150 minutes a week of aerobic activity were divided into those who exercised on five to seven or one to four of the days. Physical exams and blood tests on the participants then measured their 'metabolic syndrome' which indicates risk factors for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.