What time of the day you exercise can be decisive for the health benefits.
This is shown by a study at the University of Sydney and published in the journal Diabetes Care 1.
The researchers followed the exercise habits of 30,000 people with obesity, almost 3,000 of whom also had type 2 diabetes. Activity was measured with a wrist accelerometer for seven days.
They found that carrying out physical activities in the evening is
linked to the greatest health benefits for people with obesity.
The researchers mapped the participants’ physical activity in the morning, afternoon, and evening. They saw that those who were physically active in such a way that their heart rate increased and they became short of breath between 6 pm and midnight had the lowest risk of early death and death related to heart health.
They also found that hard, short sessions had the best effect: the researchers concluded that how often the participants carried out short sessions of moderate to vigorous physical activity in the evening was more important than the total amount of activity during the day.
One of the researchers behind the study, Angelo Sabag at the University of Sidney, says in a news release 2 that exercise is not the solution to the obesity crisis. Nevertheless, it will be important to know that you can plan your training at certain times of the day so that the health benefits can be maximized.
The findings also support the hypothesis that people with type 2 diabetes or obesity can compensate for some of the glucose intolerance and associated complications by doing physical activity in the evening.
For the news release, the researchers conclude, among other things, that the timing of physical activity can be an important part of the recommendations for future obesity and treatment of type 2 diabetes.
