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Fitness

Hate Morning Workouts? Evening Exercise May Be Better Anyway

For those who hit snooze a few too many times.

The early bird gets the worm, right? That’s why you set your alarm early, hit snooze a few times of course, but still manage to get a workout in before your day starts.

But if rising and shining isn’t your thing, we have good news: You may reap more benefits from your workout if you sweat it out at night.

A recent study from Frontiers in Psychology shows men can benefit more from evening exercise than morning workouts. Men who exercise in the evening had lower systolic blood pressure (that’s the upper number which measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats), reduced fatigue, and better fat oxidation (the breakdown of fatty acids).

A few caveats: The study was small—researchers observed 26 men for a period of 12 weeks, and, only 20 men saw it to completion. But another study from Diabetologia also found that overweight and obese men who exercised in the evening showed improvements to metabolic health benefits. Other research from Blood Pressure Monitoring proved that evening training improves heart rate recovery in men with hypertension, allowing for improved cardiac functioning.

The Frontiers study also noted that women are more likely to see better results towards fat loss, blood pressure, and lower body power in the morning while evening exercise improves upper body power, strength, endurance, and boosts overall mood.

These studies are important as we continue to research and refine our views around working out.

But despite what these studies show, exercise is still exercise, regardless of the time of the day. Whatever time fits your schedule the best, go with it.

But if you choose to work out at night, you may just catch a few more Z’s in the morning.

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