I am and have always been a “morning person”. I wake up early and my day starts with exercise. I have found that if I try to wait until later in the day to exercise I will find every reason/excuse in the world to NOT do the exercise. My “window” for exercising goes from 600am to 1000 am. After that, it is truly a push for me to get the motivation to get going. I do know many people that exercise late in the afternoon or evening. My hat is off to them as there is no way I can start exercising late in the day.
From a health standpoint, are there any health benefits from exercising in the morning as opposed to later in the day? Well, on the surface it would seem that there should be no differences: as long as you are burning the same amount of calories off, why would the time of exercise make a difference?
Well, a study came out that looked at 85,000 people that showed that morning exercise is more health-beneficial than exercising later in the day. The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that people who worked out either early or late in the morning had an 11% and 16% lower risk, respectively, of heart disease and stroke than those who didn’t lace up their sneakers until the afternoon.
More specifically, the time period from 800am to 1100 am seemed to carry the most benefits. Additionally, women on the study seemed to benefit more from the morning exercise time as opposed to males.
By no means is the study suggesting that there are no health benefits of exercising later in the day. However, it seems that the morning “gym rats” will be rewarded better for their efforts than the nighttime exercisers.
Get those motors running when the sun rises. And you can say “Good Morning Sunshine” (oops…”Starshine”)
