But neither sleep nor exercise comes in pill form. Both take time, but are often lacking.
Some people are night owls and some are morning owls because of their natural body clock, or chronotype. Alternatively, some people’s work schedules allow them to go to bed early and wake up early in time to train before starting work for the day. After all, exercise is considered a great way to awaken the body and mind.
However, if the time of day when you are most likely to engage in exercise is in the evening, exercise at that time may interfere with your sleep, wake you up too much for a truly restful night, and make you more fatigued the next day. You may wonder if
Luckily, research shows that while exercise in the morning has its benefits, exercise in the evening is also beneficial and doesn’t necessarily negatively affect sleep.
“There are many reasons why you might want to be active earlier in the day if you can choose your own time,” says Marie-Pierre Saint-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University. She is Director of the University Medical Center and the Center of Excellence for Sleep and Circadian Research at Columbia University. Exercising in the sun in the morning will help synchronize your internal clock, making it easier to wake up in the morning and fall asleep at night. Also, by completing your workout first, you won’t skip a workout later if you get busy.
However, if exercising in the morning doesn’t fit your schedule, exercising in the evening may be your best bet. “Any physical activity is fine,” San Onge says.
As long as you have a little extra time between your workout and bedtime, you can reap the benefits of exercise, including better sleep, even if you work out at night. “It all comes down to biorhythms,” says Michael Rogers, professor of human performance studies and director of research at the Center for Physical Activity and Aging at Wichita State University in Kansas.
Studies on nocturnal exercise and sleep
Exercise increases your heart rate and body temperature. Trent Yamamoto, lab coordinator at Brett Dolezal’s UC Fit Digital Health, says people agree that high levels of these can make people sleep poorly. Exercise Physiology Laboratory. Therefore, some people believe that night activities should be limited. But “whether evening exercise is chosen out of preference or need, recent research shows that evening exercise doesn’t necessarily negatively affect sleep,” he says. Masu. In some cases, exercise at night has been reported to lead to a deeper night’s sleep.
And some mixed results, but something like this: One of our 2019 surveys night level turned out to be higher The sleep-related hormone melatonin Many studies have shown that evening exercise does not worsen sleep when comparing people who exercise in the morning to those who exercise in the afternoon.
One 2018 Research Review A study on nighttime exercise and sleep published in the journal Sports Medicine found that overall, compared to no exercise, nighttime exercise was associated with rapid eye movement sleep and hours of deep sleep for recovery. and both are considered important for health. At least one study in the review showed an association between increased bedtime temperature and increased nighttime awakenings and decreased sleep efficiency, but the review authors found that end of strenuous exercise and sleep Allowing at least an hour in between, he notes, should help avoid this type of sleep disturbance. negative impact.
A small 2019 study in Australia found that young men undertook moderate-intensity aerobic or strength training between 8:45 and 9:30 pm and finished at least 90 minutes before bedtime. It was found that there was no adverse effect on the sleep of By the time they fell asleep, their temperatures had returned to baseline.another 2020 survey Based on fitness tracker data, a study of 34 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 who exercised regularly found that sleep quality improved among those who exercised in the morning, noon, and night. No significant difference was observed. Exercise intensity during workouts also did not affect sleep quality.
Still, experts caution that exercise at different times of the day may work differently for different people, and many of these studies are small. “We need more data on this,” Sentonge said. Some people may be adversely affected by nighttime activities, so more restrictions should be placed on nighttime exercise, she said.
When is the best time to exercise?
Various studies have shown that exercising at different times of the day can have different physiological effects, says Sentonge.
One 2023 survey A study published in the journal Nature Communications, which looked at more than 92,000 people in the UK, found that while any form of exercise was associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer, those who exercised from noon to afternoon or throughout the day had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease (morning or evening, rather than exercising).
a 2022 survey The journal Frontiers in Physiology investigated exercise timing and gender in a small group of men and women. The study found that women who exercised in the morning had the greatest loss of abdominal fat and blood pressure, and those who exercised in the evening gained the most strength. The men in the study exercised in the evening, which had the greatest effect on fat burning and blood pressure, as well as reduced fatigue.
But while studies like this help identify theoretical benefits of exercising at different times of the day, they show only short-term effects among a small number of people. .
For most people, the various benefits of exercise in the morning and evening are so small that they don’t matter, says Rogers. Aside from professional athletes who work with trainers who can track their training and food intake to optimize performance, for other athletes, the benefits of exercise at any time of the day can be a huge health benefit. It will, he says.
In general, these researchers suggested that those exercising at night should exercise at least 1 hour before bedtime to allow time for the body to cool down and for the heart to fully recover to its resting heart rate. It states that you should try to finish the activity two hours in advance. Sang Onju says two to three hours is better if possible. For some people, low-intensity exercise at night, such as walking in a dimly lit room or yoga, works best and provides some of the benefits of exercise without causing too much physiological stress.
But another important factor is knowing yourself. “If someone has trouble falling asleep, it’s not a good idea to go play basketball in a well-lit gymnasium at night,” St. Onge said. But if you can run or lift weights after dinner and still fall asleep and feel rested in the morning, “it’s fine,” she says.
Copyright 2023, Consumer Reports Inc.
Consumer Reports is an independent non-profit organization that works with consumers to build a fairer, safer and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services or accept advertising.read more ConsumerReports.org.
