Morning or evening? What is the best time of day to exercise?

We all know the benefits of sport! Among the first, avoid overweight and keep your spirits up. But it would seem that certain times of the day make it possible to maximize the benefits of physical activity.

The benefits of sport on our bodies no longer need to be proven, both on the cardiovascular, respiratory and bone systems, without forgetting our Mental Health and cognitive. But what is the best time of the day to practice and make the most of all these benefits? A California team looked into the matter and published a item in the review Cell Metabolism.

24-hour biological processes

It was already known that tissue sensitivity to exercise physical was variable throughout the day. Indeed, the tissues of our body and the cells composing them are set on a 24-hour rhythm, this is what is called the circadian rhythm. I’internal clock of our body controls waking and sleeping states, regulates appetite, promotes learning at certain times of the day. Therefore, physical exercise causes our tissues to respond and produce molecules different depending on the time of day when the sport is practiced. The authors of this study wanted to better understand the underlying mechanisms: how do the tissues respond collectively and individually to physical activity?

Experiments in mice

The authors measured in mice the concentration of several hundred signaling molecules produced by the tissues, metabolitesin seven different fabrics and in the serum. Samples were taken from the following tissues: muscle, liver,hypothalamus, the heartbrown adipose tissue and two types of white fatty tissue. The measurements were taken just after a physical exercise performed in the evening or in the morning. The sport practiced was running on a conveyor belt during one hour.

The authors have produced a sort of atlas of the metabolism physical activity. It turns out that each organ produces metabolites following physical activity, in a different way depending on the time of day. These metabolites allow organs to communicate with each other and align their internal clocks.

The production of certain metabolites is more interesting than others in matter health. Exercising in the morning burns the sugars and fat while doing sports in the evening allows an increase in Energetic cost.

More interestingly, practicing physical activity as soon as you wake up can help regulate and reframe the internal clock in mice with brain disorders. sleep.

The authors acknowledge that their study has certain limitations. In their analyses, they did not take into account age, sex or the presence of metabolic diseases in the mice.