The question about what is the best time of day to play sports is something like asking what is the best time of year to quit smoking. Any expert will recommend exercising as a first measure, depending on the social needs of each person and regardless of the clock. However, some recent studies are beginning to consider that performing an activity in the morning, even on an empty stomach, may be the most effective time when it comes to fighting obesity and achieving physical improvements faster. And the hours in which this activity improves performance have already been assessed: between seven and nine in the morning, according to preliminary studies.
These data appear in one of the most recent works in this field, carried out by the Department of Health Sciences at Franklin Pierce University and published by the magazine 'Obesity'. To carry out this study, the health and physical activity data of 5,285 people were analyzed. The results showed that people who exercised in the morning, between seven and nine, had an average body mass index (BMI) of 27.5, compared to those who exercised at noon and at night, who had an average BMI of 28.3. Their improvements were more evident even if during the work day their activity was more sedentary than that of other controlled groups in the study.
«Promising tool»
When extrapolating these conclusions, however, those responsible were more cautious. To begin with, because it was likely that the people who were being monitored in the morning had the advantage of having a more predictable and orderly type of work – that is, it was not, for example, shift work days – so that it was easier for them to maintain sports routines. But they also noticed that the group that exercised first thing in the morning tended to have lower caloric intake during the day.
According to one of the main authors of the report, Tongyu Ma, assistant professor of rehabilitation sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the results have yet to be validated by new studies that assess sports activities and their influence on health. However, Ma defends that activity in the morning “is a promising tool” when it comes to improving the behavior of the metabolism.
Doing sports in the afternoon increases strength, power and endurance
The study published in 'Obesity' is in line with other works that have found a difference between being active in the morning or doing it in the afternoon. In May 2022, a study was published in the journal 'Frontiers in Physiology' carried out by experts in nutrition and metabolism from the universities of Saratoga, California and Arizona in which differences were also seen depending on the time of day in which the exercise is carried out. carry out sports practices. According to the analysis, in the case of women, getting active in the morning reduces fat around the waist but also improves other issues such as blood pressure. Doing sports in the afternoon increases strength, power and endurance. For men, evening exercise reduces blood pressure, the risk of heart disease and feelings of fatigue, and burns more fat. In this case, the participants in the study were subjected to a one-hour physical routine program for four days a week. The program was quite intense, as it included strength exercises with weights, sprint sessions, and yoga and Pilates classes.
Diabetes
When choosing morning sports activity for its supposed effectiveness, there is another report carried out in 2019 by the universities of Bath and published in the 'Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism', in which the effect of sport on fasting The scientists examined about thirty men divided into three groups for six weeks. The first exercised without eating anything before, the second after having breakfast and the third did not modify his routine to act as a control group.
The work showed that the former had lower insulin levels, leading them to conclude that they were burning more fat to be active. Although weight loss did not change significantly, experts did detect a better response to insulin, which means a reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease.
As in the other two studies cited, the experts considered that more analysis is necessary – in the case of sports on an empty stomach, for example, women were not included – to delve deeper into the impact of these changes in routines. Until then, all hours are good.
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