Holistic Health
Early birds lose the most calories
Studies show morning weight loss workouts bring greater success
W
hile gym-goers tend to focus on what they
do during a work-out, mounting evidence
suggests they should be paying more
attention to when they do it.
Evidence showing when to work out for maximum
weight loss has been lacking, with more research
tending to look at the effect of meal timing on exercise
success or the type of exercises that burn the most
calories.
But in the last year, a flurry of studies has shown that
the most effective workouts appear to take place in the
morning.
Researchers in North Carolina, for example,
assessed data from 88 men and women over a
10-month period as they exercised five days a week
at various times. Participants completed a timed walk
or jog on a treadmill designed to burn a set number of
calories.
They found that the subjects who consistently hit
the gym before noon lost more weight than people
who worked out after 3pm or who varied their exercise
schedules. However, all groups lost weight compared
to a control group that did not exercise at all.
This research could have important implications for
people trying to lose weight as they can now tailor their
daily routines more effectively.
The work follows two other studies that confirmed
the circadian clock, or the sleep-wake cycle, as an
important factor in how the body responds to physical
exertion.
“It’s quite well known that almost every aspect of our
physiology and metabolism is dictated by the circadian
clock,” said the senior author of one study, Dr Gad
Asher of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences
at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, in a
statement.
“This is true not only in humans but in every
organism that is sensitive to light. We decided to ask
whether there is a connection between the time of day
and exercise performance,” he explained.
Previous studies have also suggested that at least
half of our metabolism is circadian, with 50 percent of
the metabolites in our bodies oscillating based on the
circadian cycle.
“It makes sense that exercise would be one of the
things that’s impacted,” he added.
Based on these studies, exercise has been shown to
have the most beneficial impact on metabolism at the
beginning of the active circadian phase — equivalent to
late morning in humans — compared with the resting
phase in the evening.
The science now backs up what fitness trainers have
already known: morning work-outs are best for losing
42
MAY 2020
weight.
But rather than concentrating on circadian rhythms,
Faizal Norsalem, a fitness trainer in Subang Jaya,
Malaysia, says morning gym-goers just appear more
committed than those who put on their exercise kit in
the evenings.
“I know people who really want to lose weight will
make fitness appointments in the morning. They’re the
ones who’ve committed to making exercise a central
part of their day by diving into their work-outs early and
getting their metabolism moving right from the start,”
he told Global Health Asia-Pacific.
“By contrast, the people we see at the gym after
work may be just as committed, but there’re still a
lot more variables with them. Their commitment to
exercise tends to be less defined or dropped altogether
after a hard day at the office.”
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com