WE all know exercise improves health – but the time of day you choose to work out can deliver different benefits for your body and mind.
People who exercise in the morning are often more consistent with their workouts, leading to better fitness and health, but the downside is it can take longer to warm up, leading to potential injury.
While those who exercise in the evening can counteract post-work stress, vigorous exercise at night can also affect sleep.
The NHS recommends adults do at least 150 minutes of activity a week to strengthen muscles and bones and to help manage stress and maintain a healthy weight.
It can improve brain function, reduce the risk of diseases including diabetes, cancer and heart attacks, and is said to lower your risk of early death by up to 30 per cent.
From tongue scraping to saying no, here are 12 health trends to try in 2023
But around one third of us don’t do any exercise at all, blaming a lack of time.
Today, personal trainer Jack Claxton has revealed when to exercise to get the best benefits.
Jack, who has been ranked as one of David Lloyd’s top personal trainers, said: “The body has impressively developed an internal 24-hour body clock, which helps us with things such as when to eat and sleep and that works with training too.
“My number one rule with exercise is always to just get it done.
Finding time to walk, run or work out in our busy routines is better than not doing it at all.
“However, science tells us that we can use the body’s natural rhythms and functions to get more out of certain exercises depending on when in the day we do them, meaning we get the greatest benefit for our physical and mental health.
“For example, our body temperature peaks in mid to late afternoon making it a prime time for training. Scientists have also suggested that our lungs work best at this time too, making it a great time to run.”
Jack says the time of day you sleep and eat can also have an impact, adding: “If you’re someone who easily falls asleep in the evening and is typically a morning person you’ll most likely respond better and feel more productive training in the morning.
"Whereas falling asleep late may leave you feeling groggy when waking and decrease morning performance. Choose what’s right for you.”
7AM-9AM: CIRCUIT CLASS
A STUDY in the journal Obesity found that exercising between 7am and 9am was associated with a lower waist circumference and body mass index.
How to de-clutter if you have a beauty stash to last you a lifetime
So, if your goal is losing weight, consider squeezing in a class or some cardio exercise before you start your day.
Research suggests that calorie burning may be the most efficient first thing, when you’ve fasted through the night and your body relies on stored up energy to fuel exercise.
9AM-11AM: WEIGHT TRAINING
SCIENTISTS have long known that the body’s production of testosterone, the hormone responsible for building muscle mass, peaks between these hours, making it a useful time for hitting the gym, if your aim is to build mass.
There are other plus points to strength training in the morning too.
One is that it should have no impact on your sleep, as the energy it generates can be put to use during the day, and the other is the feelgood factor.
The release of endorphins that we get from breaking a sweat and lifting weights gives your energy a noticeable boost, so getting that workout in earlier sets you up for the day ahead.
12-2PM: SWIM
BEFORE or after lunch is a great window to squeeze in exercise but you may be short on time and a 20-to-30-minute swim, two to three times a week, can help guard against heart disease and stroke as well as stress and unhealthy weight gain.
It burns more than 200 calories in half an hour — double that of walking.
The best part about swimming is that it is a whole body workout and the old adage that you should avoid this exercise after a meal has no scientific backing.
Your body temperature can fluctuate by up to one degree Celsius during the course of a day, peaking later in the day, so by lunchtime, your warmer muscles will make swimming that bit easier and more efficient.
2-4PM: RUN
THIS is regarded by athletes as the prime exercise window in the day, when optimal results can be achieved.
One of the key reasons for this is that our body temperature peaks so muscles are at their most supple, meaning running at speeds that would feel tough in the early morning will feel much easier.
That ideal body temperature of 37.5C also gives us more stability and reduces the risk of injury.
The fact that your body has consumed on average two meals by this point means you should also be running on optimum energy, particularly if those are well-balanced and nutritious, and studies have found that it will increase your energy levels by 20 per cent for the last push of the day.
Getting outside at this time also ensures your daily dose of vitamin D for bone and brain health.
6PM-9PM: YOGA
EVENING isn’t the time for an intense workout because stress hormones released when training, such as cortisol and adrenaline, send heartrates and blood pressure up and could disrupt the quality of your sleep or ability to drift off.
Instead, holistic training such as slower-paced yoga or Pilates could have a positive and relaxing effect after a busy day, gently stretching muscles and de-stressing rather than energising them. More than 80 per cent of people say yoga cuts stress.
- For more information, see davidlloyd.co.uk.
