Morning or Evening Exercise?

Both Have Benefits and Drawbacks

Several recent studies suggest that the time of day when you exercise makes a difference, but it’s not clear-cut.

Morning exercise boosts your muscles’ ability to metabolize sugar and fat due to the activation of a specific gene. It is most beneficial to those who are managing their weight or Type 2 diabetes. Morning workouts also increase alertness.

Evening exercise has been found to use less oxygen. If you did the same exercise in the morning and evening with the same intensity, the evening exercise would use less energy. Workouts are more efficient, and it boosts athletic performance. Serious and elite athletes are more likely to benefit from evening exercise. However, exercising too late in the day can interfere with sleep, which is an important part of athletic performance.

The researchers note that more work needs to be done to determine more-specific results and implications of exercising at certain times of the day.