The study suggests that women should exercise in the morning – and men at night: Females can burn fat better in the early hours while males benefit from exercising in the evening.
- A small study finds that men can get more benefits when they exercise in the evening
- Both morning and evening exercises provided “big” benefits for women
- And I found that the morning session was better for women who want to burn fat
It may be better for women to exercise in the morning if they want to burn fat, while men benefit more from exercising at night.
A small study finds that a morning fitness session is better for women looking to reduce fat and lose inches from their stomachs.
They also see a greater drop in blood pressure when they exercise earlier in the day.
But men’s blood pressure, “bad” cholesterol levels and their ability to burn fat seem to benefit most from evening exercise.
Men may also feel less tired when they exercise before dinner, rather than before breakfast.
The results came from a study of 27 women and 20 men who exercised four times a week. Almost half did it between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., while the rest did it between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The small study suggested that women looking to reduce fat would benefit most by exercising in the morning (file photo)
“While exercising in the morning and evening provides important health and performance benefits for women, those looking to shed belly fat and lower blood pressure should consider mornings,” said Dr. Paul Arcero, who led the study from Skidmore College in New York.
The study, which included relatively fit people between the ages of 25 and 55, found that women who exercised in the morning lost an average of 10 percent of their fat around their midsection. That’s compared to just 3 percent of the belly fat lost in women who exercised in the evening.
While the women did not lose weight overall, they did lose belly fat, which can wrap around the body’s internal organs and be harmful to health.
Women who exercised in the morning had a greater decrease in blood pressure than those who exercised later. This is thought to be caused by decreased vascular stiffness, but may have been driven by slightly higher blood pressure in morning exercisers.
The consolation for night owls, who studies show struggle with exercise before work, is that women who exercised later had higher upper-body strength and power when they were asked to lift weights. today.
But they were less fatigued when exercising at night, had lower blood pressure, and appeared to analyze their exhaled breaths to burn more fat. While no lower percentage of body fat was found in men who exercised at night, the study authors suggest that this may occur over a longer period.
The study suggests that men’s blood pressure, “bad” cholesterol levels and their ability to burn fat seem to benefit most from evening exercise.
All men and women in the study were asked to do four exercise sessions per week for 12 weeks. These included one session of resistance training, a session of stretching exercises such as yoga or Pilates and a session of sprint training, which means doing an exercise such as swimming or running on a treadmill for 35 minutes. Most sessions lasted an hour, although longer aerobic exercises such as cycling or rowing were included to test endurance.
All subjects in the study were given a fixed diet for 12 weeks so that food consumption did not affect the results.
Exercise is known to affect the sexes differently, especially with regard to fat.
Women’s hormones and variation in circadian rhythms may also play a role.
The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, found that exercise generally benefited all of those who participated in the research, regardless of when they did it.
The researchers suggest that their findings show that women should exercise in the morning to lose fat but in the evening if they want to improve muscle strength.
Ads
#study #women #exercise #morning #men #night
