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25.05.2024

Physical activity is at its healthiest in the evening

Exercise is just about the healthiest thing a person can do. If you want to live longer, get moving. The positive effect of physical activity is especially strong if you exercise in the evening, suggests an observational study published in Diabetes Care.

Study
Epidemiologists from the University of Sydney analyzed data from almost thirty thousand adult British people, which had been collected in the English Biobank Project. The study participants were obese and some of them also had type 2 diabetes. The researchers were able to follow the study participants for about 8 years.

The study participants wore an accelerometer for a week. This gave the researchers an idea of the activity patterns of the study participants. They knew whether the study participants ever exercised moderately or intensively for 3 minutes or more. The researchers also knew at what time of day that physical activity took place.

The researchers had data about the lifestyle of the study participants. This allowed them to use statistical calculations to smooth out the possible effects of age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, fruit and vegetable intake, the total of moderate-intensity and intensive physical activity, sleep, education, medication use and waist size.

Results
Moderate and intensive physical activity reduced the risk of death by 40-35 percent compared to the group that did not exercise. It did not matter whether that movement took place in the morning or the afternoon.

However, the effect of moderately-intensive and intensive physical activity in the evening was greater. The risk of death in the group that was physically active in the evening was 73 percent lower than in the group that did not exercise at all.

An exercise pattern with moderately-intensive and intensive physical activity in the evening reduced the risk of strokes and infarctions. [Figure] Being active in the evening also reduced the risk of typical symptoms of type 2 diabetes, such as kidney disease, retinal damage and neuropathy. [Figure]

Conclusion
"Our findings underscore the significant health benefits associated with evening moderate to vigorous physical activity among adults with or at risk of type 2 diabetes", write the Australians.

"The results of this study emphasize that beyond the total volume of moderate to vigorous physical activity, its timing, particularly in the evening, was consistently associated with the lowest risk of mortality relative to other timing windows."

"Although future trials and device-based cohort studies are required to further explore moderate to vigorous physical activity timing as a potential factor in lifestyle interventions targeting cardiometabolic disease management, the available evidence suggests that evening moderate to vigorous physical activity may be a suitable therapeutic strategy."

More coming soon.

Source:
Diabetes Care. 2024 May 1;47(5):890-7.

More:
Combination of strength training and cardio: workout at the end of the day results in more endurance capacity and muscle growth 19.01.2017
You're at your strongest early in the evening 25.09.2009

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Cardiovascular Health
Glucose & Insulin
Longevity

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