If you can’t choose the time of day to exercise due to family, social or work conditions, don’t worry: just exercise when you can, and don’t forget that every step counts. Doing something is always better than doing nothing, and more (in a controlled way) is better than less.
The benefits of exercise on health are multiple, and science shows us new discoveries about its benefits practically every week. In fact, more and more scientific societies consider exercise as true medicine due to its positive effects on the vast majority of organs and systems, and for its impact on both the prevention and treatment of the majority of chronic non-communicable diseases of the 21st century. . However, it has been observed that each person’s response to the effects of exercise is very variable, and there are people who experience very large changes after a few sessions or weeks of training, while others do not respond as much to exercise. There is, therefore, a need to individualize the dose of exercise to the characteristics of each person to maximize its benefits.
Precision medicine is an innovative approach to healthcare that focuses on tailoring treatments and prevention strategies to each person’s individual characteristics, such as their genetics, environment and lifestyle. This approach seeks to significantly improve the effectiveness of medical treatments and reduce side effects, by providing more personalized and specific interventions for each individual. In this new paradigm, exercise plays a fundamental role, especially in those programs aimed at the prevention and treatment of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis or some types of cancer. In reality, it is about prescribing exercise, precision exercise, in an individualized, personalized way, just as is done with an elite athlete. To do this, you must consult a professional in physical activity and sports sciences, that is, a sports physical educator or educator. Physical activity and sports sciences have experienced exponential growth in the last two decades, and there is currently great scientific evidence on how to combine the variables that define an exercise program: frequency, type, time, volume or total amount of exercise as well as the progression of the training program. Currently, science is reconsidering that the time at which the exercise is done must also be taken into account to try to optimize its effects.
Recent research results have shown that the effects of exercise could be greater depending on the time of day it is done. Traditionally, it has been thought that exercising in the morning on an empty stomach would promote weight loss, which contrasts with the most recent scientific results that indicate that the ability to burn fat during exercise appears to be greater when it is done in the afternoon. , especially in men. Additionally, it has been shown that exercising in the afternoon may improve glucose control or blood pressure in people with obesity, type 2 diabetes, in people with hypertension, or in those who have metabolic syndrome. The results of a UK Biobank study that included more than 90,000 people with an average follow-up of 7 years show that intensity may be a key factor, and suggests that people who do more moderate/vigorous intensity physical activity between 11 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon have a lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease compared to those people who do most of their activity between 5 and 11 in the morning. The good news is that this study also shows, unequivocally, that doing moderate/vigorous intensity physical activity at any time of the day is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer compared to doing nothing. . On the other hand, the results of a study from the same UK biobank indicate that physical activity carried out as part of daily life, mainly in the morning, is associated with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, there is still no conclusive scientific evidence about the optimal time to exercise. However, it does seem clear that investing resources in researching this aspect will improve our knowledge about whether the benefits of exercise can be maximized by individually adjusting the time of day at which it is performed. Finding the ideal time to perform physical exercise is of clinical and public health interest and can have a very important application in both healthy people and people with cardiovascular pathologies. Likewise, optimizing the moment of exercise to coincide with the greatest physiological response of each person would mean increasing the potential of exercise as a prevention and therapeutic tool.
While science does not show conclusive results, the recommendation is to exercise every day. Therefore, move as and as much as you can and without looking at the clock, but move!