JUST DO IT (…in the morning)
Health professionals devote a lot of journal space and public outreach efforts to the topic of exercise. With both obesity rates, metabolic disorders, and sedentary lifestyles on the rise in industrialized nations, the urgency to intervene is clear. So, the public health message is clear: Move more, eat less. Simple enough, right?
Well, sort of. Yes, moving more is definitely a good thing. Increased cognitive function, increased cardiovascular fitness, and improvements to mood are just a few of the major benefits of a lifestyle that includes exercise. As Americans track their movement more and add exercise into their daily routines, do morning exercisers get more from it than evening exercisers? Does it matter if you do it early or late in your busy day?
A recent Newsweek article explores this question. Bass et al. (2016) showed that our bodies may have adapted to better synthesize the impact of exercise when it occurs early in our day’s activities. According to the original study published in Cell Metabolism, strenuous exercise works best for the body’s circadian rhythm when it occurs in the morning.
“Oxygen and the internal clock are doing a dance together inside muscle cells to produce energy, and the time of day determines how well that dance is synchronized,” according to the research team. In short, our bodies are programmed to do their best cellular work at the beginning of the day. So, given the cellular-level impact of exercise, you might want pull yourself out of bed early rather than waiting until after work. Grab your coffee and just do it.
Cara, E. (2016, October 29). Is There an Optimal Time of Day to Exercise. Newsweek, Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/optimal-time-day-exercise-514302
Peek, C.B., & Levine, C. B. (2016, October 20). Circadian Clock Interaction with H1F1a Mediates Oxygenic Metabolism and Anaerobic Glycolysis in Skeletal Muscle. Cell Metabolism. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2016.09.010
Even if exercise is better in the morning, why should we tell people that is when they have to or should exercise? Plenty of people struggle to either fall asleep early enough to workout in the morning while others just are not morning risers. Having been to the ACSM Health Summit two years ago, I remember a presenter telling us circadian rhythms are very much unique to each person. Because of this, one should find out when their energy is highest, and use it then. While I could workout in the early mornings, I dread waking up and know that I am better off working out closer to the middle of the day if possible. Lots of people also have a schedule that precludes them from working out in the morning, so could this not just turn them off from exercise if they read that when they can’t workout is when it is best to workout?