The best time of day to exercise
Study suggests ‘it could be better to move your feet before you eat’
Exercise is recommended for people who are overweight or obese as a way to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But people don’t always have time to exercise as much as they would like, so finding ways to increase the health benefits of exercise is important.
Our latest research has found a way to do just that, and it’s to do with timing. This means you might be able to get away with doing less exercise if other commitments, such as family and work, always seem to get in the way.
To explain how this works, it helps to know a bit about insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps control blood sugar levels. One of the main effects of insulin after a meal is to allow sugar in the blood to be transported into muscle, where it can then be stored or used as a fuel for energy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
When people don’t exercise enough and become overweight or obese, their bodies have to produce more insulin for the hormone to have this important effect. In other words, they become less sensitive to insulin. This is one of the reasons why being overweight increases the risk of getting type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
One of the main health benefits of exercise is that it improves our response to insulin and we can better control our blood sugar levels – even if we don’t see this change happening. It is now becoming clear that when we eat in relation to exercise could be important for this insulin response.
Our study looked at the responses to six weeks of exercise, which was supervised cycling for 50 minutes, three times a week. In one group, overweight or obese men exercised before breakfast (fasted state) and showed an improved insulin response after the training. That is, they had to produce less insulin to control their blood sugar levels. This suggests that they had a lower risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes after the training. But the men who performed the same exercise after eating breakfast did not show an improved blood insulin response.
The men who exercised before breakfast also burned about double the amount of fat during exercise than the group who exercised after breakfast. Current evidence suggests that this increased fat burning during exercise may explain why that group showed improved health benefits.
But don’t expect to lose more weight
A common misconception about exercise in the fasted state is that the increased fat burning will lead to increased weight loss. But for weight loss, the important factor is energy balance. This is the amount of energy eaten as food and drinks minus the amount of energy that is expended by the body, partly through exercise.
There is some evidence, that, over a short period (24 hours), skipping breakfast altogether and doing exercise may create a more negative energy balance, compared with eating breakfast and doing the same exercise. Yet evidence also suggests that when it is only the timing of meals in relation to exercise that is changed (not skipping breakfast), the amount of weight lost will be similar even if fat burning is different. So increased fat burning during exercise does not lead to greater weight loss, unless the energy balance (for example, energy intake or energy expenditure) is different.
It is now important to repeat the study in women, although it is likely that the same effect would be shown with exercise before versus after breakfast. This is because for men and women eating breakfast before exercise reduces fat burning during the exercise. This research was also for moderate-intensity endurance exercise, such as cycling and jogging, and the results don’t necessarily apply for high-intensity exercise or weight lifting.
Finding ways to increase the health benefits from exercise may help to reduce the increasing prevalence of diseases such as type 2 diabetes. The new research suggests that for your health it could be better to move your feet before you eat.
Rob Edinburgh, PhD Candidate, Health, University of Bath
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Magazine solutions - October 11, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - October 11, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - October 11, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - October 11, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
When does early voting start in swing states?
The explainer Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
By David Faris Published
-
Pros and cons of cold-water swimming
Pros and Cons Icy dips at Christmas can be a ‘mood booster’ but also carry health risks
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Social/life: five tips for staying healthy on and offline
In Depth Sam Bias Ferrar, founder of new health and wellbeing app Minboso, on the simple changes that can make a big difference to your wellbeing
By Sam Bias Ferrar Published