But neither sleep nor exercise comes in pill form. Both take time and are often in short supply.
Some people are night owls while others are morning owls due to their natural body clock, or chronotype. Alternatively, some people’s work schedules may allow them to go to bed early and wake up early in time to train before starting the day’s work. After all, exercise is considered a great way to wake up the body and mind.
But if your best time to exercise is in the evening, exercising at that time may disrupt your sleep, keep you awake too much for a truly restful night, and make you feel even more tired the next day. You may be wondering if there is.
Fortunately, research shows that while there are benefits to exercising in the morning, exercise in the evening is also beneficial and doesn’t necessarily have a negative impact on your sleep.
“If you can choose your time, there are many reasons why you might want to be physically active earlier in the day,” says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University. She is the director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep and Circadian Research at University Medical Center and Columbia University. Exercising in the morning while basking in sunlight synchronizes your body clock, making it easier to wake up in the morning and fall asleep at night. Also, completing your workout first will prevent you from skipping it later if you get busy.
However, if exercising in the morning doesn’t fit into your schedule, working out in the evening may be your best bet. “Any physical activity is fine,” says San Onge.
If you have some extra time between your workout and bedtime, you can reap the benefits of exercise, including improved sleep quality, even if you work out at night. “It comes down to biological rhythms,” says Michael Rogers, professor of human performance studies and director of research at the Center for Physical Activity and Aging at Wichita State University in Kansas.
Research on nighttime exercise and sleep
Exercise increases your heart rate and body temperature. Trent Yamamoto, lab coordinator at Brett Dolezal’s UC Fit Digital Health, said there is a consensus that people don’t sleep well when these values are high. Exercise Physiology Laboratory. Therefore, some people believe that nighttime activities should be restricted. But, he says, “Whether exercise at night is chosen out of preference or necessity, recent research shows that exercise at night does not necessarily have a negative impact on sleep.” Masu. In some cases, nighttime exercise has been reported to lead to a deeper night’s sleep.
And some mixed results, but something like this: One of our 2019 studies Levels were found to be higher at night Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone Many studies have shown that evening exercise does not worsen sleep when comparing people who exercised in the morning to those who exercised in the afternoon.
One Review of research in 2018 A study on nighttime exercise and sleep published in the Journal of Sports Medicine found that overall, compared to no exercise, nighttime exercise led to more rapid eye movement sleep and more restorative deep sleep. are associated with an increase in , and both are thought to be important for health. At least one study in the review showed an association between elevated body temperature at bedtime and increased nocturnal awakenings and decreased sleep efficiency, but the review authors found that the end of strenuous exercise and improved sleep They point out that allowing at least an hour in between should help avoid this type of sleep disorder. Negative impact.
A small 2019 study conducted in Australia found that young men engaged in moderate-intensity aerobic or strength training between 8:45 and 9:30 p.m. and finished at least 90 minutes before bedtime. It was found that there was no negative effect on sleep. By the time they fell asleep, their body temperatures had returned to normal.another 2020 survey Based on fitness tracker data, we surveyed 34 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 who exercised regularly and found that sleep quality was significantly lower among those who exercised in the morning, afternoon, and evening. No major differences were observed. The intensity of exercise during a workout also had no effect on sleep quality.
Still, experts caution that the effects of exercise at different times of the day may vary from person to person, and many of these studies are small. “We need more data on this,” St. Onge said. Some people may be adversely affected by nighttime activities, she says, so they need to limit exercise more at night.
What is the best time to exercise?
Various studies have shown that exercising at different times of the day can have different physiological effects, St. Onge says.
One 2023 survey A study published in the journal Nature Communications surveyed more than 92,000 people in the UK and found that while any physical activity was associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer, those who exercised from midday to afternoon or throughout the day (morning or evening) had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease.
a 2022 survey The journal Frontiers in Physiology surveyed a small group of men and women about exercise timing and gender. The study found that women who exercised in the morning had the greatest reductions in abdominal fat and blood pressure, and women who exercised in the evening gained the most fitness. The men in this study exercised in the evening, which had the greatest effect on fat burning and blood pressure, and also felt less fatigued.
But while studies like this one help identify the theoretical benefits of exercising at different times of the day, they only show short-term effects among a small number of people. .
For most people, the various benefits of morning and evening exercise are so small that they don’t matter, says Rogers. It’s a different story for professional athletes who work with trainers who can track their training and food intake to optimize performance, but for other athletes, the ability to reap the benefits of exercise at any time of the day can be a huge health benefit. He says it will.
In general, these researchers found that people who exercise in the evening should exercise at least one hour before bedtime to allow their bodies time to cool down and allow their hearts time to fully recover to their resting heart rate. He says people should try to finish their activities at least two hours in advance. St-Onge says two to three hours is better if possible. For some people, low-intensity evening exercise, such as walking or yoga in a dimly lit room, is most effective and can provide some of the benefits of exercise without causing as much physiological stress.
But another important factor is knowing yourself. “If someone has trouble falling asleep, going to play basketball at night in a brightly lit gym is not a good idea,” St-Onge says. But if you can go for a run or do some weight training after dinner and still fall asleep and feel rested in the morning, “you’ll be fine,” she says.
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