What’s the best time to exercise?

                                 

 Highlights

The best time to exercise depends on your personal preferences and the one you can stick for a long time.
Exercising in morning helps you in starting your day with endorphins and a feeling of accomplishment.
It also leads to fewer distractions and increase productivity throughout the day.
Afternoon workouts lead to better outcome for people at risk for or diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as it has more metabolic benefits.

                              

Managing your career and social life with exercise can be challenging, it can be difficult to squeeze in workouts even through it is beneficial for our health and well-being. 

When it comes to what is the best time to exercise, most experts believe whenever you actually can as its always better to exercise than not exercising at all. Research shows certain times in a day that are best than other for squeezing in a workout and different times of the day may have different health and performance perks.

For example, exercising in the morning may help you in sleeping better at night, enhance metabolic health by exercising in afternoon or overcome anxiety if you practice evening yoga. There is no evidence that calories are burned more efficiently at certain times of the day, but the time of day can influence how you feel.

Working out in the Morning

There are more benefits of working out in the morning as you will start your day with endorphins and a feeling of accomplishment, it also lead to fewer distractions and increase productivity throughout the day, it is the best way to burn stored fat, making it best for weight loss.

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Morning workout improves sleep quality, concentration and mood and decreases daytime sleepiness.  Our body naturally has high levels of cortisol and growth hormone in the morning, both of which are involved in metabolism and draws more energy from fat reserves.

Also read: Why women feel colder than men

Advantages of workout in morning

• Help in establish a fitness routine

As morning exercise leaves less room for excuses people are often more consistent and you can’t skip working out in evening because of duties piled up.

• Improved sleep

Waking up early in the morning may be difficult but morning workout habit can shift your circadian rhythm and enhance productivity. It makes body more tired in the evening so you can sleep early and workout in morning. Better Sleep and circadian rhythm help facilitate muscle growth which helps in enhancing strength

• Burn more calories

Morning exercise with empty stomach help in burning more fat than exercising after eating as body utilize fat stores than already exist to fuel exercise, rather than the food you just had.

• Enhance productivity

Working out in morning enhances energy levels, alertness, decision making and concentration which lead to more productivity at work.  

• Boost mood throughout the day

Working out in morning boost your mood as your body produces endorphins or happy chemicals.

Disadvantages of Morning Workout

• Running on low fuel

You might feel serious hunger mid-workout if you didn’t eat enough the evening before. Eat larger dinner or a small, protein dense snack before bed if you wake up hungry most days. You may also eat carb-heavy snack such as banana before exercising in morning.

• You may interrupt deep sleep

Waking up early might interrupt deep sleep and may result in sleep inertia and chronic fatigue.

• Low physical performance

Most people do not wake up early as they feel fired up and nimble. You might experience stiffness in joints and temporary inflexibility.

• Takes longer to warm up

In morning core body temperature is lower and heart rate is also slower, which takes warming up longer.

Also read: How breathing techniques can tackle your anxiety

Working Out in afternoon and evening

According to study, afternoon workouts lead to better outcome for people at risk for or diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as it has more metabolic benefits as well as more positive effects workout performance and fat mass compared to people who workout in the morning.  Also higher body temperature in afternoon may also help muscular performance.

Most people feel more ready for workout throughout the day, which makes afternoon and evening the best time to work out for many reasons.

Benefits of working out in afternoon and evening

• Improve physical performance

Many people perform better later in the day and flexibility, muscle strength, endurance and power output are all better in the evening as compared to morning. Also people exercising in evening take up to 20% longer to reach the point of exhaustion. 

• Body produce more hormones

Our body more hormones such as testosterone during afternoon workout than morning as it is important to build muscle in men and women which result in muscle gains and greater strength.

• Higher body temperature

During the day our core body temperature is higher as compared to morning and also many people can get into the groove faster for afternoon and evening exercise.

• Relieve stress

Working out is always been the best thing to do to relieve stress and working out in evening and really help you blow off some steam.

• Might help replace bad habits

Exercise in afternoon and evening may help you to replace ad habits such as drinking, snacking, smoking or watching TV.

Disadvantages of working out in Afternoon and evening

• May interfere with sleep

Exercise at night may affect sleep is a myth, scientists reveled that working out at night may have no effect on sleep and some people may even get a better night’s sleep. However some people may feel anxious if they exercise too close to bedtime.

• May cause problems with consistency

Many people feel tired after a long day and for them exercising at night may not work. Working out in afternoon and evening may also affect your daily responsibilities.

Also read: How Stress Can Affect Your Workout, Fitness

Bottomline

If you want to start fitness routine start working out in the morning as it can help you begin your day with more focus, energy and optimism. However, experts say whatever time you can find to exercise is better than not exercising at all. The fact is people who exercise daily at the same time of day sees better results, regardless of whether they choose morning, afternoon or evening.