Is it better to exercise in the morning or afternoon?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a bit of a trick question, because exercise at any time of day is better than no exercise.<\/p>\n
But a major new review in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism found that the timing of exercise can, in some instances, meaningfully influence how that exercise affects us.<\/p>\n
In the review, researchers analysed the results of multiple past studies of morning versus later-day exercise on the metabolisms of healthy people and those with Type 2 diabetes, a common condition affecting millions in which the body becomes resistant to insulin, resulting in consistently high blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n
It found that many of our cells, hormones and genes respond differently depending on when we work out.<\/p>\n
The effects \u2014 and implications \u2014 proved to be especially striking for people with Type 2 diabetes. For them, exercise later in the day tended to result in substantial and lasting improvements to blood sugar control.<\/p>\n
The same exercise first thing in the morning, on the other hand, often led to increased blood sugar and impaired insulin responses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a growing body of evidence suggesting that exercise later in the day may offer additional health benefits,\u201d said Trine Moholdt, an exercise scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, who was not involved in the review.<\/p>\n
But any added benefits probably depend, the review also found, on who you are and how you work out.<\/p>\n
Exercise affects circadian rhythms<\/p>\n
One of exercise\u2019s most potent but least appreciated powers is as a \u201czeitgeber\u201d or \u201ctime giver\u201d for our circadian rhythms, meaning it can influence those rhythms.<\/p>\n
Normally, our bodies follow a 24-hour cycle that helps determine when we wake, sleep, eat and generally function. This cycle is orchestrated by molecular \u201cclocks\u201d in virtually every cell and organ in our body that coordinate with a central body clock in our brain.<\/p>\n
This central clock is set and adjusted by \u201czeitgebers\u201d, principally light and darkness, but also meal timing and exercise. In response to these cues, our internal clocks initiate intricate physiological processes that trigger other bodily reactions, including the release of hormones.<\/p>\n
As a result, our heart rates, blood pressure, insulin secretion, hunger, body temperature, energy, sleepiness, strength and many other systems rise and fall in predictable patterns throughout the day and night.<\/p>\n
But in people with Type 2 diabetes, these cycles often become disrupted. They can develop \u201ccircadian misalignment\u201d, meaning their various cellular clocks no longer communicate effectively with each other, and some biological processes do not occur when they normally should, if they occur at all.<\/p>\n
For someone with circadian misalignment, exercise timing matters.<\/p>\n
Morning exercise can raise blood sugar<\/p>\n
When middle-aged men with Type 2 diabetes began a programme of relatively intense exercise either in the morning or afternoon in one of the studies analysed, the results were telling.<\/p>\n
Their workouts had been identical at both times of day. But when researchers tested the men\u2019s blood sugar levels afterwards, they found that afternoon workouts led to lower, healthier levels that lasted for up to 24 hours.<\/p>\n
The same workouts completed in the morning left the men with higher blood sugar and worse insulin sensitivity that likewise persisted for hours.<\/p>\n
Other experiments produced comparable results. \u201cMost studies report higher post-exercise glucose levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes in the morning compared with the afternoon,\u201d the authors wrote. These findings suggest that the body\u2019s response to exercise is not uniform throughout the day, particularly for those with metabolic conditions.<\/p>\n
The \u2018dawn phenomenon\u2019<\/p>\n
Why should morning exercise seemingly worsen blood sugar problems in people with Type 2 diabetes?<\/p>\n
Probably because of what\u2019s known as the \u201cdawn phenomenon\u201d, which causes blood sugar to be especially high first thing in the morning.<\/p>\n
In almost all of us, levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone, spike early in the day. That surge helps us wake up. It also prompts the liver to release stored sugar. In people with healthy metabolisms, the pancreas releases insulin to move that sugar into muscles, where it is used as fuel.<\/p>\n
People with Type 2 diabetes produce less insulin and are also resistant to its effects, so their blood sugar levels typically rise and remain elevated in the morning.<\/p>\n
Working out early in the day, especially vigorously, can raise cortisol levels further and increase muscles\u2019 demand for fuel, leading to the release of even more blood sugar.<\/p>\n
That is not a problem for people with healthy blood sugar control, whose muscles burn through most of that sugar.<\/p>\n
But for those with Type 2 diabetes, who are often most insulin resistant in the morning, that extra sugar is not efficiently absorbed by the muscles. Instead, it remains in the bloodstream, causing levels to climb.<\/p>\n
These combined effects make morning exercise less favourable for promoting glucose metabolism in people with Type 2 diabetes than the same workout later in the day.<\/p>\n
Any exercise better than none<\/p>\n
Even so, morning exercise is still beneficial for people with Type 2 diabetes. \u201cThe most important message remains that exercise at any time is better than no exercise at all,\u201d one of the review\u2019s co-authors noted.<\/p>\n
If you prefer morning workouts, it may help to keep the intensity relatively low. Lighter physical activity, such as brisk walking, does not appear to have the same time-of-day effects as more vigorous exercise.<\/p>\n
Many questions remain about exercise timing. Most of the studies included in the review were small, short-term and focused largely on adult men. It is still unclear whether women and older adults respond in the same way. The review also concentrated on blood sugar. Other factors, such as cardiovascular health, sleep and longevity, could also be influenced by when we exercise, but more research is needed.<\/p>\n
Still, for people with Type 2 diabetes who can choose, afternoon or evening exercise appears to offer greater benefits for blood sugar control.<\/p>\n
For everyone else, the takeaway is simple: exercise benefits nearly every organ system in the body. While timing may influence certain outcomes for certain groups, for most people, the best time to exercise is whenever they can fit it into their day and stick with it consistently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is it better to exercise in the morning or afternoon? That\u2019s a bit of a trick question, because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,27046,103697,137,298787,293612,298788],"class_list":{"0":"post-615463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-better","11":"tag-bit","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-sugar-control","14":"tag-trick","15":"tag-trick-question"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}