Good news if you don’t feel like exercising in the morning and hardly have time during the day. New scientific research shows that late-night exercise can be beneficial. At least that applies to people who are overweight.
Australian researchers analyzed data from almost 30,000 individuals included in the UK Biobank. That group of participants wore an activity tracker non-stop for seven days, which recorded all their movements. The researchers then looked at how they fared in the following eight years. They checked for deaths, major cardiac events (such as a heart attack), and microvascular events (including being prescribed cholesterol or blood pressure medications). Furthermore, they also took into account a number of lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior and eating habits. Their study shows that obese people exercise best between 6 p.m. and midnight. This is the conclusion in the medical journal Diabetes Care.
Although this is a purely observational study, the researchers think that people with diabetes or obesity, who already have glucose intolerance late in the evening, can compensate for some of this with a late exercise session. There is more good news: which sport you choose towards midnight doesn’t matter much. “We have made no distinction in terms of sporting activities. These can be very diverse. From walking to climbing stairs and from running to thorough cleaning,” said lead researcher Dr. Matthew Ahmadi, affiliated with National heart foundation at the University of Sydney.
Moreover, you don’t have to exercise for very long. Just three minutes of being out of breath appeared to offer some benefit. The scientists state that the frequency of short exercise sessions is more important than the total amount of physical activity per day. In other words, increasing your heart rate for a few minutes can be better than one longer training session. Research at the end of 2023 already led to a similar conclusion. In the journal Atherosclerosis, scientists stated that you need to take the stairs five times a day to become healthier. Think of a staircase with an average of ten steps, so about fifty steps every day.
Important note: according to experts, consistent exercise is not the only solution to tackling obesity. Adjusting your eating habits also plays a major role.
