Adults are recommended to be physically active for at least 30 minutes per day, five days a week - 150 minutes altogether. However a new study suggests that hitting this 150-minute mark is what is important, irrespective of how many days in the week it takes to achieve.

Canadian scientists followed the progress of over 2,300 adults to see which was more important - the amount of exercise or the frequency.

The participants wore accelerometers on their waists to measure how much activity they undertook. An accelerometer is an electrical device that records how much a person moves every minute. It is about the size of a matchbox.

Among those who achieved the 150-minute per week guidelines, two groups were formed - those who were frequently active (five to seven days per week) and infrequently active (one to four days per week).

According to the scientists, the findings suggest that ‘it does not matter how adults choose to accumulate their 150 weekly minutes of physical activity'.

"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," they explained.

They said that the important message to take from this study is that adults should aim to undertake 150 minutes of physical activity every week ‘in whatever pattern works for their schedule'.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.