Whether with the goal of losing weight or staying in shape, are there more benefits to exercising early in the morning or late after work? A new study has taken stock, and one time slot would indeed be more interesting than the other.
Including physical activity in your daily life is a necessity to control your weight and your health. But where to place it when you work? At dawn before starting your day? Or on the way back, to unwind? Beyond personal preference, how your body responds to insulin throughout the day could also give you an indication.
Against all odds, here is the best time to play sports
Researchers from the University of Sydney studied the timing of exercise on the body and the health risks. To do this, they analyzed the exercise programs and results using a tracker of nearly 30,000 obese people, aged on average 62 years, over eight years.
Participants were divided into several categories based on when the majority of their activity took place: morning athletes trained from 6 a.m. to noon, afternoon athletes trained from noon to 6 p.m. hours, the evening athletes trained from 6 p.m. to midnight.
And the results are rather unanimous:
- Obese people who exercised after 6 p.m. had a 61% lower risk of death and a 36% lower risk of developing heart disease compared to obese people who didn't exercise at all;
- Obese people who exercised in the morning received about half the benefits: They were only 33% less likely to die and 17% less likely to develop heart disease;
- Afternoon exercise was also found to be less effective than evening exercise, with a 40% lower risk of death and a 16% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
To choose, it is therefore evening sport which proves to be the most beneficial for health.
“Exercise is by no means the only solution to the health crisis.obesitybut this research suggests that people who are able to plan their activity at certain times of the day may better offset some of these health risks.”expressed the author of the study, Dr Matthew Ahmadi in front of his results.
A pace that better suits your body
But how can we explain this difference between morning people and those who prefer the end of the day? The authors of the study have some hypotheses that would explain the specific benefits of evening sport on weight and cardiovascular diseases:
- First, blood sugar levels are often higher late in the day. If you exercise when your blood sugar is relatively high, muscles can pull excess sugar from the bloodstream and use it as fuel, giving you more energy and helping to increase calories burned. “Over time, it could help you lose more weight and have better health outcomes”;
- Next, there is evidence that exercising in the evening may help lower blood pressure overnight, which may reduce the risk of heart disease;
- Previous research by Japanese and Dutch researchers has shown that exercising in the afternoon and evening helps to better stabilize blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of insulin sensitivity, a precursor to diabetes;
- Meanwhile, other studies have shown that exercising in the evening can have stress-relieving effects and reduce emotional eating behaviors.
Four good reasons to plan a quick run or Pilates session at dusk (and get more sleep in the morning).
