- Exercise plays an important role in a person's overall health.
- There is still a lot of debate about the best time of day for a person to exercise.
- Using a mouse model, the researchers found that exercising in the morning helped increase fat burning compared to exercising in the evening.
Exercise plays an important role in overall health.
Not only can it help with weight loss, but previous studies have also shown that physical activity can help reduce a person's risk of diseases such as diabetes,
Even though people know they should be exercising, there's a lot of debate about the best time of day to exercise to benefit you.
For example, a
Now, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found that exercising in the morning helps increase fat burning compared to exercising at night in a mouse model.
The study was recently published in the journal Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Many of our internal rhythms are governed by
“This clock coordinates many of our physiological functions, including body temperature, blood pressure response,
“So if we can align what we do — for example, our daily exercise — to this clock, we may be able to fine-tune the health benefits,” she added.
For this study, Dr. Zierath and her team examined
After analysis, the researchers found that early exercise increased the expression of genes involved in the breakdown of fat tissue, as well as several other functions associated with higher metabolic rates.
“Exercise during the early active phase has increased associations with fat burning, thermogenesis and
“These changes occurred even when exercise-induced hormone levels were similar across phases, implying that the sensitivity of body fat to exercise-induced hormones may vary depending on the time of day of physical activity,” she explained.
The scientists found these signs of increased metabolism only in mice that exercised in the morning.
“We were surprised that early active phase exercise — the equivalent of late morning exercise in humans — had such a profound effect on boosting fat cell metabolism. Initially, we thought this time-of-day-dependent The effect is because of nutritional status.”
— Dr. Juleen R. Zierath
“However, we later confirmed that the genetic signature for a higher metabolic rate was not affected by food intake,” she said.
When asked what the next steps for this research are, Dr Zierath said a limitation of the current study is that the work was only done in healthy mice.
“Our next step is to conduct similar studies in men and women [healthy] weight or obesity. It will be important to understand whether our findings can be applied to fine-tune the well-known metabolic benefits of exercise,” she continued.
“The correct timing appears to be important for the body's energy balance and enhancing the health benefits of exercise, but more research is needed to draw any firm conclusions about the relevance of our findings to humans.”
— Dr. Juleen R. Zierath
medical news today Also spoke to Ryan Glatt, senior brain health coach and FitBrain program director at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California, about the study.
He agrees that time of day may affect how physical activity affects the body according to an individual's circadian rhythm (or biological clock based on time of day), as well as various changes in hormones, which often fluctuate throughout the day
“There is currently no scientific consensus on the ‘best time of day to exercise', as what is more important may be the most reasonable behavior for a given individual. It is also unlikely that the time of day for exercising will trump”
Calories Intake vs. Calories Expenditure ‘ Overall fat loss.
— Ryan Glatt, Senior Brain Health Coach
As for the next steps for this research, Glatter said he would like to see this type of study done in humans because of the differences in physiology between mice and humans.
“Previous studies have done this in humans for outcomes such as gaining muscle, but the differences between time of day and outcomes may not be as dramatic as some might expect. Unique variables such as hormones distribution, circadian rhythms and behavioral preferences, likely mediating the interaction of exercise and time of day,” he explained.
