If you are trying to figure out which one is the best workout session during the day, you are not alone though.
What are the differences between the two? How do you reap the health benefits from them?
Let’s take an insight on the exercising morning vs evening.
What Are The Differences Between Exercising Morning Vs Evening?
Morning exercise routines are best to consider if this is your ONLY time to perform before hitting work or other daily tasks.
That means if you are trying to reserve this energy later in the day, the chances that you are not going to complete it are high!
Meanwhile for those in the evening session, if you just have like 30 minutes of your time before hitting the bed, then this might be the only time for you to work out.
I wish to adhere that consistency is the key to striving for good results in long term, regardless of morning or evening exercise workout.
Try and adjust the time so that the body can adapt to more regular fitness routines. For example, if you think you have like 40 minutes of time for a morning exercise routine, get to bed 40 minutes earlier so that you can have 40 minutes of morning routines the next day.
This can be the same scenario for evening exercise routines. See, it is just a matter of shifting a bit of your workout schedule, right?
What Are The Morning Exercise Routines Health Benefits?
1. A morning exercise workout helps increase alertness and cognition to function better.
It does help to elevate the energy level further up in the afternoon, as the human body performs best in the mid-afternoon.
You will feel much more energetic to kick start and also end the day a lot better, with a good quality of sleep.
2. This session also helps to maximize the beneficial effects on the metabolism.
According to studies at the Epigenetics and Metabolism Centre, at the University of California, changes in muscle tissues especially glucose breakdown and fat burning, boost the metabolism and activate certain genes in the muscle cells which can help in weight control.
3. An empty stomach before a morning exercise can jumpstart the metabolism better. Thus, this can burn more calories throughout the day as the body uses the fat stored, so the effect is better than a workout after a meal.
4. Improve your sleep patterns by shifting the circadian rhythm, so the body naturally is more alert in the morning and more tired in the evening. This will help you fall asleep faster as studies show that morning exercise boosts deeper sleep.
5. The endorphins or Happy Chemicals produces in the body when performing morning exercise routines keep the mood up and enhance a more optimistic day.
What Are The Evening Exercise Routines Health Benefits?
1. Evening exercise routines use and consume lesser energy and oxygen, thus you can perform your exercise more efficiently and enhance the performance.
For example, if you are running on a treadmill in the morning, you are most likely going to reach exhaustion earlier than in the evening, based on the same running conditions.
2. Your physical performance in endurance, flexibility, strength, and power output will improve better during the evening routine than in the morning session.
3. Hormones like testosterone are vital for building muscles. By working out in the evening, studies have shown testosterone hormones tend to more produce and will result in greater strength and muscle build.
4. More release of endorphin hormones during and after an evening exercise help to relieve stress and a clearer mind to workout.
Potential Drawbacks – Exercising Morning Vs Evening
Exercising in the morning on an empty tank (fasted state) may lead to faster fatigue and earlier fuel burnout. Imagine with no food and water intake as technically you are working out in a low fuel state.
Solution? Before bedtime, what you can do is try to eat a larger meal protein-packed for dinner. Or, after waking up, eat a carb-heavy snack like a banana to avoid hunger-related fatigue.
If you are not used to waking up early in the morning, this will interrupt your deep sleep, feeling groggy, and could lead to chronic fatigue.
A morning exercise workout needs constant motivation to get up in the early morning as our lungs at this time are at lower function plus the airways are constricted after sleeping for hours.
Our core body temperature is also lower and the heartbeat is slower in the morning. So, it takes a longer time to warm up (crucial for every workout) our body.
If you just straight jump into your morning session without a proper warm-up, the risk of getting injured is high. This is because our joints and muscles are stiffer when awake, very prone to injuries, and will compromise any movement.
That is why you need a warm-up such as light stretches and deep breaths for proper blood flow in the body.
What about the evening exercise’s pitfalls?
It may interfere with your night’s sleep. This is because your body is more energized and alert especially if you are working out too close to your sleeping time.
However, it also depends on what type of workout, say if it is an intense type, yes it may interfere but performing a gentle workout such as yoga or meditation before sleep, can help to improve your sleep.
Consistency can be another issue as it may affect your daily schedule. You may find it difficult to schedule, and easier to call off the session with your own excuses like being too tired after a long day.
This creates many opportunities or excuses for a person’s workout replacement. I suggest that you can try to shift to morning workouts if it may or may not work.
What Is The Better Time For A Workout?
Scientists from the Centre for Epigenetics and Metabolism at the University Of California said time exercise for a particular workout to be beneficial is crucial for metabolizing sugar and fat.
These processes are driven by circadian rhythms which dominates all thing that our body does such as blood pressure, heart rate, and core temperature. They have significant impacts on exercise performance.
So, what is the better time here?
It very much depends on your goals.
According to metabolic research at the University of Copenhagen, for example, if you are worried about your weight and controlling your blood sugar level, go for the mornings as the workout cells that influence metabolism are much stronger than in the evenings.
My Overall Verdicts On Exercising Morning Vs Evening
All I can say is that there is no right or wrong when deciding which is the best time for your home workout. Each has its own perks and it entirely depends on you.
Workout whether from your home or not is not about how many calories to burn but truly is about how you feel when exercising and how it can fit into your daily busy schedule.
Both the morning and evening exercises, each with its undeniable advantages, also depend on your choices, lifestyles, and time management.
The best time to exercise is whenever you can.
Like I said earlier, it is all about being consistent and compliant with your workouts.
You just need to be a little flexible with your fitness routine to build a good habit of regular exercise.
Though it may not be necessary, tries and sticks with your chosen exercise routine for days, weeks, and months, that align with your long-term fitness goals.
Remember, every effort counts!
Do leave a comment if you have any and I will speed back within 24 hours.
Have a fantastic exercise at home!
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