(TotalConservative.com) – New research shows that adults who engage in routine exercise, moderately to vigorously, specifically in the early morning hours were statistically less likely to become overweight than those who exercised later.
Although it’s no surprise exercising lowers one’s chances of obesity, it’s the timing that the study analyzed: when one chooses to exercise can affect the results.
The study was authored by Tongyu Ma, a Franklin Pierce University assistant professor of exercise physiology in Rindge, New Hampshire. He wrote that the data found that those who exercised regularly early in the morning had a lower body mass index (BMI) and shorter waist circumference than those who did so at later times.
According to Ma, working out in the morning “is a promising tool” to manage one’s weight. Researchers explored the subject by tracking the weight of almost 5,300 adult males and females who were enrolled in an ongoing survey of health and nutrition between the years 2003 and 2006.
While awake, participants wore an accelerometer on their hips for a minimum of four and a maximum of seven days in a row, including at least one weekend day. They were categorized into three separate groups based on their activity routine: morning, midday, and evening. Of the 5,300, about 2,500 worked out midday, around 2,200 in the evening, and only around 650 did so in the morning. Then their BMI and waist circumference were calculated and measured, which are two key observations when determining the risk of obesity.
The results found that working out between 7 and 9 a.m. correlated with a lower risk of obesity or being overweight compared to those who exercised in the middle of the day or the evening. Ma made it clear that the study can only indicate an association between weight and time of exercise but not a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
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