If you’re new to working out, you may be trying to figure out the best time to exercise so it works for your schedule and so you get the most health benefits. The truth is the best time to work out is whenever you’re most likely to actually do it.
That said, research does show that certain times of day may offer health benefits over others.
The best time of day to workout
When TODAY.com interviewed several experts on the subject, they all pretty much agreed: Exercising in the morning is the best time of day to work out for logistical, effectiveness and health reasons.
A recent studied published in the journal Obesity found that exercising between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. could help with weight loss. Based on data from 5,200 people 20 years old and over, researchers found that moderate to rigorous exercise in the morning was associated with a lower body mass index than exercising midday or in the afternoon.
That said, a few factors could be playing a role in the findings. For example, morning exercisers were more likely to have never consumed tobacco or alcohol, to consistently work out at the same time every day and to consume fewer calories, than midday or afternoon exercisers.
Lead researcher Tongyu Ma, research assistant professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told NBC News that his “cautious suggestion” from the study is that exercising early in the morning before eating can lead to more weight loss than exercising in other times of day.
But Cameron Mitchell, Ph.D., assistant professor of kinesiology at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who was not involved with the new research, told NBC News that he could not conclude working out in the morning leads to “optimal health” based on the study results.
Ross Andersen, Ph.D., professor of exercise physiology, medicine and nutrition at McGill University in Montreal, who was also not involved in the study, told NBC News he agreed, adding that people who exercise in the morning probably also…
Read the full article here
