What time of day is best to exercise? ibs.GRANADA scientists recommend not looking at the clock
Researchers have conducted an analysis of 22 published papers on whether it is better to exercise in the morning or in the afternoon, and have found that the time of day that you exercise does not influence the immediate effect of exercise on blood pressure. and blood glucose
A study led by the University of Granada and the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.Granada) has shown that the time of day that you exercise does not influence the immediate effect it has on blood pressure and glucose in blood. Therefore, the researchers recommend exercising without looking at the clock, contrary to what has been suggested to date by the scant existing scientific literature on the matter.
In this research, published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, the Biomarkers of Metabolic and Bone Diseases research group of the ibs.Granada and the Center for Network Biomedical Research, Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) of the Carlos III Health Institute.
The cells of our body have a molecular clock that controls metabolic processes and is in constant interaction with external stimuli. Patterns of the modern lifestyle such as having disturbed sleep rhythms, not getting enough sleep, working and/or eating at irregular hours or being exposed to artificial light contribute to the appearance of cardiovascular diseases.
Exercise is a protective factor against these diseases, and recent studies suggest that the time of day it is practiced may influence its effects on health. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature has been carried out with the aim of contributing to optimizing the effects of exercise as a tool in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
at morning or evening?
The objective was to determine if exercising in the morning or in the afternoon has a different effect on cardiovascular health in adults. For this, information from 22 studies was collected and the results have been analyzed comparing the effect of a single exercise session in the morning and in the afternoon.
Researchers have found that the time of day at which exercise is performed does not influence the immediate effect of exercise on blood pressure and blood glucose. “Exercise has a short-term blood pressure-lowering effect both in the morning and in the afternoon. It also causes an increase in blood glucose regardless of the time of day. This immediate increase in glucose appears to be greater in the morning for people with diabetes mellitus (exercising at this time may be less advisable for them), although this has not been statistically confirmed,” explains the study's lead author, Raquel Sevilla Lorente, a researcher at the José Mataix Verdú Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INYTA) at the University of Granada.
It is important to note that the studies that have been analyzed in this work have heterogeneous characteristics, so the results should be taken with caution. In the works analyzed, exercises of different types and intensities are included, and also the participants vary in weight and height, state of health or level of physical condition. Furthermore, there are few studies in women.
“The available literature provides us with preliminary results and leaves open questions for future studies. For example, there is not enough evidence to define the immediate effect on blood lipids. Nor is it known what role sex or chronotype (individual differences in sleep-wake cycles) play, characteristics that seem to affect this question in an important way”, the author points out.
