Numerous scientific evidences show that physical exercise benefits health and increases emotional well-being, but what time should we do it to take advantage of all its benefits and prevent the onset of diseases? Is it better to practice sports in the morning or in the afternoon? A new study involving more than 85,000 people has reached a conclusion in this regard and its results, which have been published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, are consistent regardless of the total amount of daily physical activity.
The research has been carried out by scientists at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and has found an association between morning physical activity and a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. “It is well established that exercise is good for heart health, and our study now indicates that morning activity appears to be most beneficial,” said study author Ms. Gali Albalak, “The findings were particularly pronounced in women and applied to both early risers and night owls.
The researchers used data recorded in the UK Biobank from 86,657 individuals aged 42 to 78 who did not have cardiovascular disease when the study began. The participants, who had an average age of 62 years and 58% were women, wore a wrist-worn activity tracker for seven consecutive days, and were followed for incident cardiovascular disease, defined as first hospital admission or related death. with coronary artery disease or stroke.
Morning activity and lower cardiovascular risk
Over six to eight years of follow-up, 2,911 participants developed coronary artery disease and 796 had a stroke. When the researchers compared the peak hours of activity in a 24-hour period, they found that being most active between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. was associated with lower risks of heart disease and stroke.
Women who were most active in the early morning or late morning had a 22% and 24% lower risk of incident coronary artery disease
These scientists carried out a second analysis in which they divided the participants into four groups according to the peak time of physical activity: 1) noon; 2) early in the morning (~8 am); 3) late in the morning (~10 am); and 4) late (~7 pm). The categories were not predetermined, but were established based on the peak moments of activity in the study population. To analyze the associations between the peak moment of activity and the incidence of cardiovascular disease, they used noon as the reference group.
After adjusting for age and sex, they found that participants who were most active in the early morning or late morning had an 11% and 16% lower risk of incident coronary artery disease, respectively, compared with the group reference, and that those who were most active in the late morning had a 17% lower risk of incident stroke compared with the reference group.
The findings were consistent regardless of the total amount of daily activity or whether the participants considered themselves a morning or evening person. Analyzing the results separately by sex, the researchers found that the results were especially salient in women, but no longer significant in men. Women who were most active in the early morning or late morning had a 22% and 24% lower risk of incident coronary artery disease, respectively, compared with the control group. Additionally, women who were most active in the late morning had a 35% lower risk of incident stroke compared to the control group.
Ms. Albalak explained that since it is an observational study, they cannot explain “why the associations were more marked in women.” “Our findings – she adds – add to the evidence on the health benefits of physical activity by suggesting that morning activity, and especially in the late morning, may be the most advantageous. It’s too early for formal advice prioritizing morning exercise, as this is a fairly new field of research. But we hope that one day we can refine the current recommendations simply by adding a line: When you exercise, it is recommended to do it in the morning.”
Benefits of training in the morning or in the afternoon
The time at which exercise is practiced depends on tastes and needs, but also on the free time we have after fulfilling our obligations, and on our chronotype, since physical activity influences circadian rhythms and can alter these patterns. There are studies in this regard that have collected different benefits depending on the time of day you train and that you can take into account to establish your exercise routine.
Benefits of morning training:
- It favors being more constant in the practice of exercise-
- It can improve sleep habits.
- Helps burn more fat.
- It increases alertness and energy levels, which makes us more productive and facilitates decision making.
- Improves mood.
Benefits of training in the afternoon or at night:
May increase performance: Some studies have found that most people physically “work better” after several hours of the day because muscle strength, flexibility, power, and endurance are improved by the night than in the morning.
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More effective warm-ups: you always have to warm up before exercising, but as our body temperature increases throughout the day, this process is faster and easier if we train in the afternoon or at night.
- Increased testosterone production during evening training, which translates into greater strength and muscle gain.
- It helps to combat stress and, therefore, it can be a good relaxation technique before going to sleep.
- It can be used to replace bad habits: instead of spending the afternoon glued to a screen –television, mobile, tablet…– eating between meals or drinking and smoking, you can spend your leisure time doing sports.
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