Is exercising in the morning best for your body?
An ABC Health report examined the theory that exercising in the morning was best for the body, and discovered that the time of day is less important than exercising regularly.
Assistant Professor Kym Guelfi, an exercise physiologist at the University of Western Australia said, “Given that most of us aren’t active enough anyway, getting moving is more important than when we do it”.
“If you exercise first thing in the morning before you eat, you mobilise a greater level of fatty acids. Basically you burn more fat,” she says.
“But studies have shown we can exercise harder later in the day because our “perceived exertion” is lower; that is, the exercise feels easier to us.
“If you feel it’s easier, you might be inclined to push yourself that bit harder, which is going to be better in the long term for weight loss,” she continued.
Another common idea is that because heart attacks and other cardiac events occur more frequently in the morning, people who are at increased risk should exercise vigorously only in the afternoon.
However in a 2007 scientific statement, the American Heart Association said cardiac events during exercise were relatively rare. Given that regular exercise reduces your overall risk of these events, it was probably more important to exercise at a convenient, rather than a specific, time of day, the statement said.
Australia’s Heart Foundation agrees, “The benefits of regular physical activity far outweigh the risks,” says Shauna Jones, national manager of the Heart Foundation’s Active Living programme.
There is some evidence to suggest we may perform better at different types of exercise at different times of the day.
Research shows later in the day, when our body temperature and muscle strength are at their peak tends to be best for exercises that require substantial physical effort. But skill-based exercises, or ones that require fine motor control, are better performed in the morning.
However, as Assistant Professor Guelfi points out, research also shows you can train your body to get used to exercise at a certain time of day.
