Some people work out in the morning before work, others in the evening afterward. Which is better working out in the morning vs night? There are many variables to consider when optimizing your workout. So, does it matter whether or not you work out in the morning or night?
Although there are several benefits to working out both in the morning and at night, it is best to work out when your schedule allows and establish a consistent routine for the best results.
Read on to learn which is better—working out in the morning vs. night.
When Should You Workout in the Morning or Night?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises healthy adults to get 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week. This can be spread across the week as 30 minutes, 5 days of the week, or 50 minutes over 3 days a week. Most people have very busy schedules, and it can feel hard to fit working out into your schedule.
However, exercise brings many health benefits, such as lowering your risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. It also helps you to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Exercising can boost your mood and improve your mental health, as well. So, it is important to make time to exercise when you can.
Although there may be pros and cons to working out in the morning vs. the night, it is important to fit exercise into your routine when your schedule allows. You should make exercising work for you rather than trying to fit a certain mold for when you should exercise. Be consistent with your workout routine, and you will meet your goals and see results.
If you have more freedom to change your workout routine, you may wonder whether morning or night workouts offer the most benefits.
What Are The Benefits of Working Out in the Morning?
If you are a morning person, the crack of dawn is when you have the most energy and the most motivation. This is a great time to go to the gym or crank out some early morning cardio at home because you feel energized and ready to go. If you're more of a night owl, you may groan just thinking about trying to roll out of bed and get right into a fitness routine.
So, why should you shoot for an early morning workout?
Your Body Is Most Awake in the Morning
Science suggests that even if you're not a morning person, your body is primed to work optimally in the morning. Circadian rhymes are the changes a person experiences over a 24-hour cycle. These include physical, mental, and behavioral changes. Light and darkness, food intake, stress, physical activity, temperature, and social environment all affect a person's circadian rhythm.
Your biological clock controls your circadian rhythms and sense of time. It is made up of proteins encoded by thousands of genes. During the day, your body produces and degrades a protein known as PER, which helps to regulate the 24-hour cycle.
At night, this protein binds to TIM and enters the nucleus. The PER-TIM complex prevents the further production of this protein until morning, and then the cycle repeats. Any disruption to this process can leave you feeling lethargic and affect your mood, such as when you have jet lag.
The brain controls your biological clock in a cluster of nerve cells that form the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN controls the production of the melatonin hormone based on the amount of light your eyes receive. As evening approaches, your eyes absorb less light, which signals the SCN to tell the brain to create more melatonin. This causes you to begin to get sleepy.
In the morning, your optic nerve senses light and triggers the release of cortisol to wake you up. Your body temperature and heart rate rise to make you feel alert. If you do morning exercise, it can boost endorphins and improve your mood. Endorphins are feel-good hormones that help relieve pain and reduce stress.
Working out in the morning may help give you a dose of positivity to start your day out right.
Easier to Build a Routine
Morning exercise may make it easier to build a routine and stick to it. Cortisol affects habit formation, and mornings are when cortisol levels are higher. So, starting a workout routine during this time of the day may make it easier for you to stick to it. This is great if you have trouble committing to a workout routine.
It can also be a great way to get your circadian rhythm back on track. When you get up in the morning to exercise, make sure to expose yourself to natural light. This will help to regulate your circadian rhythm and get you back on track if you've gotten out of rhythm after traveling or for other reasons.
May Help With Weight Loss
Another perk to being an early bird is that it may be the best time to work out for weight loss. Research shows that a consistent workout routine improves exercise adherence and weight management for people with obesity. Exercise timing may have a larger impact on people with weight loss goals.
Morning exercise may encourage more physical activity throughout the day, leading to greater fat oxidation. Many people perform morning exercises on an empty stomach, and evidence suggests that 'fasted exercise' can lead to metabolic advantages.
More studies need to be completed to understand the full effects of morning workouts on the body and its ability to lose weight. Some of it may involve circadian rhythm and its effects on hormones.
May Improve Sleep
Regular exercise in the morning may also improve your sleep quality. As we age, the rhythm and timing of our body clocks begin to decline. Neurons that promote sleep begin to die. Certain conditions can even speed up these processes, leading to our circadian rhythms being off. Older adults may sleep less and wake up earlier.
However, exercising in the morning may help to get your sleep schedule back on track. People who exercise early in the morning tend to fall asleep early, spend more time in a deep sleep, and wake up fewer times at night.
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Cons of Morning Exercise
Some considerations to keep in mind with morning workouts. Even though people typically have more energy in the mornings, optimal energy and hormones may not occur until as late as 10 a.m. You can become fatigued if you do an intense workout in the morning, especially if you wake up hungry. You may not have enough energy to perform an exercise, making it harder to complete.
If you exercise outdoors, morning exercises may be harder, especially if it is dark outside. You may not be able to run or safely perform some of your favorite exercises, like hiking, jogging, or biking, before the sun rises.
Also, if you don't complete a warm-up before exercising in the morning, you may be more prone to sprains and strains due to decreased blood flow right as you wake up.
Remember to practice safe exercise by providing your body with the fuel it needs to function, warming up and cooling down before and after workouts, and working in a well-lit environment.
What Are The Benefits of Working Out In the Evening?
For many people, evening workouts are the best option. Many people have work, childcare, and many other schedule conflicts that get in the way of morning workouts. Night owls may also feel that evening exercise is more satisfying and helps them sleep better. However, your energy levels may decrease during afternoon workouts. So, is it less effective to exercise during the late afternoon?
There are several benefits to working out in the evening including getting better sleep, increasing strength, relieving stress, reducing injury, and finding friends to exercise with.
When you do moderate-intensity exercise in the afternoon, it might increase your ability to sleep deeply. Deep sleep is associated with an increase in cognitive function and energy. However, high-intensity activity, such as HIIT, may disrupt your sleep.
Increased Strength and Stress Relief
Muscles also follow a circadian rhythm, and your muscle strength is generally higher in the afternoon and evening. So, if you strength train later in the day, you may increase your exercise performance, muscular endurance, and muscle strength.
Also, if you've had a stressful day at work, working out can be a great way to relieve stress and wind down after a long day. The endorphins released during physical activity help reduce stress and improve mood. Additionally, evening workouts are more popular for working out with friends. Group classes are typically held during the evening.
Social Benefits and Injury Reduction
Also, people are more likely to meet up with you to exercise in the evening. Working out with others is a great motivator and can help you to meet your fitness goals. Building a routine and sticking to it is easier if you have someone cheering you on.
Another benefit of working out in the evening is that you may be less likely to have energy. Your muscles are usually warmer at this time, which improves your flexibility. This can help prevent sprains and injuries.
Cons of Evening Exercising
Although exercising in the evening has several perks, it also has several downsides. An intense workout routine in the evening may negatively impact your sleep. This happens because it can increase your energy and stimulate your brain at a time when you need to slow down.
Experts recommend exercising only moderately in the evening and choosing to do these exercises 1 to 2 hours before going to bed to give your brain time to calm down and let your endorphin levels decrease.
Another con of exercising at night is that you may have a harder time sticking to your routine. Making other plans in the evenings rather than in the mornings is much easier. So, you may be more likely to replace your workout routine with something else which can prevent you from maintaining a consistent exercise regimen.
Conclusion: Working Out in the Morning vs Night
Although there are many benefits to working out in the morning, there are also some benefits to working out at night. More studies are needed to understand the processes at work during exercise and how timing plays into those processes.
Overall, it is better to establish a consistent workout routine that fits your schedule than to work your schedule around your fitness plan. This will help you to get the health benefits from exercise and establish a routine that is easier to maintain in the long run.
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