Women should exercise in the morning, men should exercise at night

Exercise is good for your health no matter what time of day. But a new randomized controlled trial, published by scientists in the journal Frontiers in Physiology, has found: Exercise in the morning and evening can have different effects, each aspect and even even every part of the body.

For their study, the scientists set up an experiment that lasted up to 12 weeks, involving 20 male volunteers and 27 female volunteers.

They were asked to follow a similar exercise schedule that included sprinting, resistance training, and stretching four days a week. Along with that is a strict diet to control the total amount of calories going out and going into the body.

Everything is set up exactly the same, except for one factor: Training time. A group of volunteers will be asked to exercise in the morning, before breakfast time. Meanwhile, the other group practiced in the late afternoon, before dinner.

The results showed that all volunteers had a significant improvement in their fitness and health after 12 weeks. But the improvement was uneven between the morning and afternoon exercise groups, especially in women.

Female volunteers who exercised in the morning burned 7% more belly fat, and their blood pressure also dropped 7% more than female volunteers who exercised in the evening. Working out in the morning also made their legs stronger.

In contrast, women who exercised in the evening showed better improvement in their upper body strength. Compared with women who exercised in the morning, women who exercised in the evening improved muscle strength by 29% and endurance by 15%. They also had a markedly improved mood and higher cravings.

Interestingly, compared with women, male volunteers participating in the trial were less affected by exercise duration.

There are only 2 notable factors that when exercising in the evening, men will reduce a little blood pressure, increase fat oxidation compared to the morning. Working out in the evening also helped them improve their fatigue during the day, with a 55% increase in efficiency.

Choose the right exercise time for your body and purpose

Paul Arciero, study author from Skidmore College, New York said: “Based on our findings, women interested in reducing belly fat and blood pressure, and increasing leg strength, should consider exercising in the morning.

BILLIONHowever, women who are interested in gaining upper body muscle strength and endurance, as well as improving their overall mood and want to eat more, then working out in the evening is the choice. prioritized.

In contrast, evening exercise is ideal for men interested in improving their cardiovascular and metabolic health, as well as their mental health.”

This study is the first to explore how a varied exercise regimen impacts individuals depending on the time of day.

In the past, some scientists have also conducted studies that have found that exercising in the morning produces different physical results than exercising in the afternoon or evening. But most of these studies used only one type of exercise and focused only on male volunteers.

Today, some estimates suggest that women only participate in about 3% of all sports science research. Even in animal studies, scientists often choose male mice.

For example, a previous study in rats found that exercising in the morning contributed to greater fat loss, while exercising in the evening resulted in better control of blood sugar. However, this study only focused on male rats, and they performed only one burst of aerobic exercise over and over.

That to emphasize the superiority in the experimental design this time. The scientists put into it a long exercise schedule, with varied exercises and subjects of both men and women. The results clearly show that the time of daily exercise affects the physical activity of women more significantly than men.

But why did that happen?

The researchers themselves are not sure, but they have a few hypotheses. Previous studies have shown that men and women have different circadian rhythms. That affects their physiology and psychology differently, at any time of the day.

In fact, every cell in the human body is in sync with its own biological clock. This watch revolves around operating patterns based on approximately 24-hour intervals.

Theoretically, if exercise timing coincides with certain peaks and troughs in the circadian clock where hormones, metabolism, and neurological factors are active, it could affect health. muscle strength, cardiovascular system, body composition structure and overall functioning of a person.

The authors of the new study suspect that women who exercised in the morning lost more fat than in the evening, because overnight fasting meant that their bodies had to use up energy stored in fat.

On the other hand, men who exercised in the evening coincided with their circadian clocks pushing their metabolism to peak. This can have an advantage, as body fat is only then used as fuel for intense exercise.

It should be recalled that while the amount of body fat that the male volunteers lost in the experiment was the same, regardless of the time of day they exercised, the male volunteers who exercised At night, there is increased fat oxidation.

This could be a sign that their body is preparing for real fat loss in the long run. That is, if you are a man and you want to lose fat and maintain your body shape in the long term, you should probably exercise in the evening, before meals.

In the future, the scientists plan to conduct further trials, beyond 12 weeks, to see if there are any potential effects of choosing the right time of day for exercise on both. men and women. Their results will ultimately allow us to optimize our exercise time according to our own fitness goals.

Refer Sciencealert