What is the best time of the day to exercise to improve metabolic health?

If you are like me, the best time to exercise for me is in the morning, either before my day starts or sometimes mid-day. I never think of it as a way to improve metabolic health but do it to keep myself fit for my job as a chiropractor.

Like many folks, evenings are usually when many of us calm down and relax after a full day of work.

Exercise has beneficial effects for those who exercise which can reduce blood pressure as well as cholesterol levels.

A recent article in the NY Times suggests that exercise in the evening is more beneficial for reducing cholesterol and blood pressure for overweight men eating a high-fat diet.

While many of us are not overweight men on high-fat diets, we too may benefit from late-day exercise.

Check out the article from the NY Times

The Best Time of Day to Exercise for Metabolic Health

Late-day exercise had unique benefits for cholesterol levels and blood sugar control, a study of overweight men eating a high-fat diet found.

By Gretchen Reynolds May 26, 2021
Evening exercise may be more potent than morning workouts for improving metabolic health, according to a helpful new study of exercise timing. The study, which looked at high-fat diets and overweight men, found that late-day workouts moderated the undesirable health effects of a greasy diet, while morning exercise did not.

The study involved only men who were eating a fatty diet, but adds to growing evidence that exercise timing matters and, for many of us, working out later might have particular advantages.

Although we may be only dimly aware of this, operations inside our bodies follow busy, intricate and mutable circadian schedules. All of our tissues contain molecular clocks that coordinate biological systems, prompting our blood sugar to rise and dip throughout the day, along with our hunger, heart rates, body temperature, sleepiness, gene expression, muscle strength, cell division, energy expenditure and other processes.