When is the best time of day for someone to exercise? Apparently, it is at night. At least that is what scientists from the University of Sydney in Australia have determined.
Everyone thinks the best time for exercise is first thing in the morning. That is when you see a lot of people out jogging around the suburbs. It is also when the gyms tend to be packed. And, traditionally the experts have always said not to exercise at night because it would keep you up. They say that the release of hormones from physical activities makes it harder to fall asleep.
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But the Australian researchers who followed the trajectory of 30,000 people over almost 8 years determined that when the majority of daily physical activity and exercise is in the evening it links to the greatest health benefits for people living with obesity.
The study was led by researchers from the University’s Charles Perkins Centre.
Using wearable device data to categorize participant’s physical activity by morning, afternoon, or evening, the researchers uncovered that those who did the majority of their aerobic moderate to vigorous physical activity– the kind that raises our heart rate and gets us out of breath– between 6 pm and midnight had the lowest risk of premature death and death from cardiovascular disease.
The frequency with which people undertook moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in the evening, measured in short bouts up to or exceeding three minutes, also appeared to be more important than their total amount of physical activity daily.
“Due to a number of complex societal factors, around two in three Australians have excess weight or obesity which puts them at a much greater risk of major cardiovascular conditions such as heart attacks and stroke, and premature death,” said Dr Angelo Sabag, Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Sydney.
“Exercise is by no means the only solution to the obesity crisis, but this research does suggest that people who can plan their activity into certain times of the day may best offset some of these health risks.”
“We didn’t discriminate on the kind of activity we tracked, it could be anything from power walking to climbing the stairs, but could also include structured exercise such as running, occupational labor or even vigorously cleaning the house,” said Dr Ahmadi, National Heart Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.
While observational, the findings of the study support the authors’ original hypothesis, which is the idea – based on previous research – that people living with diabetes or obesity, who are already glucose intolerant in the late evening, may be able to offset some of that intolerance and associated complications, by doing physical activity in the evening.
