You get out of bed exercise before work or go to the gym on the way home? Does a midday walk lift you up in the afternoon, or is it yoga you rely on in the evening to wind down? We all know exercise is good for us, but growing evidence suggests otherwise When exercise can also impact our mood, fitness and health.

On Tuesday, a study published in the journal BMC medicine which tracked the activity of 86,252 people between the ages of 42 and 79, revealed that participants who had two daily peaks of activity at 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. were associated with an 11 percent reduced risk of stroke. intestinal cancercompared to those who were active at other times of the day.

The main investigator, professor dr. Michael Leitzmann, from the University of Regensburg, Germany, said the findings could “open new avenues for targeted prevention strategies”. The reason for the reduced risk is not clear, but it raises the question: Could we benefit psychologically or physically by adjusting the timing of our exercise routine? And if so, how?

Early morning aerobic exercise

Working up a sweat first serves several purposes, if you can handle it. Not only is it often the most practical way to get a workout in before it’s even set, but neurologist Andrew Huberman says it will also help us feel more alert by raising our body temperature, which is lowest in the morning.

Personal trainer Kate Rowe-Ham, author of Owning your menopausesays that lifting weights when she wakes up four times a week makes her “more energetic and motivated for the rest of the day.” She points out that resistance training it has been shown to balance blood sugar and, in the long term, lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. “It leaves me less stressed.”

Early exercise may also be more effective for weight control – journal research Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that 45 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise can increase your metabolic rate for 14 hours, meaning you burn more calories during the hours you do it, as opposed to overnight, while another 35-minute study women in the same journal found that participants exercised. in the morning they were more likely to increase their activity throughout the day.

“Research suggests there may be a slight advantage to doing aerobic exercise earlier in the day because it improves blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which can improve your productivity,” adds Arj Thiruchelvam, sports scientist and trainer at Performance Physique. In terms of increasing feelings of well-being, he says resistance training and aerobic exercise are probably equally beneficial, “because they both trigger the release of endorphins, which is the most important factor in improving mood.”

After breakfast for longer workouts

Although studies have found that exercising on an empty stomach, regardless of the time of day, can increase fat burning by up to 70%, this does not have to be prescriptive. “I have to eat a protein breakfast – usually scrambled eggs – up to half an hour before because my workouts are long and I don’t want to run out of energy,” says personal trainer Cornel Chin, who does a two-hour weight session at 11 a.m. every Saturday. “This fits my lifestyle. During the week, I speed walk and do bursts of bodyweight exercises between coaching clients.”

Lunchtime walk in the park

Meanwhile, a lunchtime session can help you cope with the demands of work, especially if done outdoors during our dwindling daylight hours. A two-week Finnish study in 2017 found that a 15-minute walk in the park helped participants more than indoor relaxation exercises, making them feel more relaxed. and detached from their work, while “the relaxation group only experienced an increase in their feelings of relaxation,” said Kalevi Korpela, professor of psychology at the University of Tampere in Finland.

Amanda Daley, a health psychologist at Loughborough University, says “lunchtime exercise can help clear your head after a morning of work or other activities (and) boost your mood and brain power in the afternoon.”

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Resistance training in the afternoon

It can also have benefits for our physical health. Last year, a major study in the journal Communication of nature found that while moderate to vigorous physical activity at any time of the day was linked to a lower risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, those who exercised between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. had a higher risk less premature death from all causes than those who exercised in the morning or evening. .

The report’s authors speculated that this may be because blood pressure recovers more quickly in the afternoon, or because of implications for meal timing — a walk after a meal, for example, has been found to control blood sugar levels — but they acknowledged “ the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated”.

What we do What I do know is that our body temperature peaks in the afternoon, “and being a little warmer makes the muscle fibers react faster, which can improve our performance,” says Thiruchelvam. “That’s why athletes might want to train then because they’ll be a bit stronger. Studies show that resistance training can be more effective in the afternoon.”

HIIT in the evening for some…

Reaction times are also often fastest at this time, potentially improving performance in competitive sports and stopping and starting exercise such as high-intensity interval training. Indeed, research by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that American football players typically performed better in games that started at 20 or 21 than in games that started from 13 to 16.

This was because they were at the peak of their circadian rhythm – the 24-hour internal clock. However, the time of day when you’re happiest exercising will depend in part on your chronotype or your natural tendency to fall asleep at certain times, and if you’re an early bird who wakes up at 5am, for example, exercise of evening are still likely. to feel a challenge.

… but less is best for most in PM

The latest research overturns the long-held belief that evening exercise can interfere with sleep, however—and found it may even help us quit faster. This summer, a study of 30 participants found that those who did three-minute bursts of bodyweight exercises such as squats and calf raises every 30 minutes over a four-hour period starting between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., they slept an average of 27 minutes longer than the sedentary control group.

The exception appears to be high-intensity exercise, which releases the stress hormone cortisol and is thought to reduce sleep quality when done close to bedtime. However, any impact is likely to be minimal, Thiruchelvam says, “and it’s still better for you than scrolling through your phone.” He points out, however, that exercising when tired is more likely to lead to injury: “Mental and physical fatigue is when the slips happen.”

Yoga or stretching before bed

If cardio sounds too tiring, consider stretching in the evening—a four-month study of chronic insomnia patients found that stretching three times a week from 5 to 6 p.m. improved symptoms. Meanwhile, a 2019 meta-analysis found that mind-body therapies, including yoga and tai chi, can be “effective in treating insomnia and improving sleep quality.”

Yoga has been shown to increase melatonin, the hormone that regulates the sleep cycle, and is “a great addition to your bedtime routine,” says Rowe-Ham, although the research isn’t clear whether it needs to be practiced in the evening to be beneficial.

What’s “vital,” Thiruchelvam points out, is that we exercise, period, and no study should “put people off exercising at their only opportunity.” Rowe-Ham agrees: “I don’t want people to think they’re at a higher risk of cancer because they can’t exercise at certain times or that it’s pointless. Movement is beneficial no matter the time.”