exercise Archives - Real Time News

person in blue jacket and black shorts jogging early in the morning with their black dog — People should exercise in the morning if they want to reap the best cardiovascular benefits, a study suggests. Image credit: wAleksandarNakic/Getty Images.

A new study investigates the potential effect of exercising at different times for preventing cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The study finds that people who exercise in the morning achieve the greatest reduction in risk. This is particularly true for women.
The best time of day to exercise may be around 11 a.m. according to the study.

Although exercise is always generally good for health, a large new prospective study finds that one particular time of day may offer the greatest benefit when it comes to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke.

The study found that physical activity in the morning, between 8 and 11 a.m., had the greatest positive effect on a person’s risk of CVD and stroke compared to activity at other times of day.

The association applied equally to individuals who described themselves as morning or evening people.

The study authors also found that people who exercised both early and late in the morning — versus mid-morning — derived the greatest benefit.

Dr. Paul Arciero, professor in the Human Physiological Sciences Department at Skidmore College in Sarasota Springs, NY, explained why the study is so persuasive:

“This is the largest prospective study to date in more than 86,000 participants, over a six-year follow-up period, examining the effects of exercise time of day, or ‘chronoactivity,’ on cardiovascular disease [heart attack and stroke] risk.”

“I think this study does a great job of trying to tackle a few of the biggest challenges in physical activity intervention research,” Dr. Asad R. Siddiqi commented to Medical News Today. “Namely, [the] scale of study, generalizability, and follow-up interval.”

Dr. Siddiqi is an assistant professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, NY. Neither he nor Dr. Arciero were involved in the study.

The study appears in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The researchers analyzed data from 86,657 individuals in the UK Biobank. Their average age was 62, and they ranged in age from 42 to 78. The majority of individuals, 58{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}, were women. Accelerometers recorded participants’ physical activity over a period of 7 days.

Dr. Siddiqi expressed some concern about the study’s fitness tracking, noting that “[t]he participants were followed for only 7 days, and in a manner that involved an ‘intervention’ — wearing an accelerometer, which they otherwise may not do — and we always need to be cognizant of how these interventions affect participant behavior, i.e., the Hawthorne Effect.”

“The real question is whether a 1-week tracking period is a fair representation of habits throughout the 6 to 8-year follow-up period,” he said.

Dr. Arciero, however, did not consider this a problem, saying that “[b]ased on a previous research study, a 7-day physical activity accelerometer measurement is considered a representative time period to assess a person’s overall physical activity level.”

The lead author of the study is Dr. Gali Albalak of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Even though people’s activity could have changed over time, she told MNT, the accelerometer data “enables objective measurement of physical activity without any recall or other forms of bias that play a role in questionnaire-based physical activity information.”

In any event, added Dr. Siddiqi, “[i]n general, given that the study population was largely middle-age[d] to older adults with presumable ‘formed’ behavioral habits and patterns, there isn’t a strong suggestion that these habits would change significantly over the follow-up period.”

After 6 years, 2,911 study participants developed coronary artery disease (CAD), and 796 participants had had a stroke.

Overall, people who exercised at 11 a.m. were 16{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} less likely to develop CAD, and 17{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} less likely to have a first stroke of any kind. They were also 21{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} less likely to have a first ischemic stroke, compared to the study’s reference group.

People who exercised early in the morning lowered their CAD risk by 11{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}.

When the researchers tabulated women and men separately, it turned out that women benefited considerably more from morning exercise. By itself, the benefit of morning exercise for men was not statistically significant.

Women who exercised in the early or late morning reduced their risk of CAD by 22{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} and 24{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}, respectively.

“In support of this large prospective study,” added Dr. Arciero, “a recent 3-month exercise intervention study published from our laboratory with a group of middle-aged, healthy-weight women and men showed that women exercising in the morning reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure to a significantly greater amount (-10{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} vs. -3{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}) compared to women exercising in the evening.”

“Thus, our data also supports morning exercise in women to improve cardiovascular health, and therefore lower incident risk for CVD,” he argued.

Dr. Albalak noted: “We were not able to explain this difference in our finding[s]. One of the possible explanations could be that the etiology of cardiovascular disease is different in men and women.”

“So, more research is needed,” said Dr. Albalak, “before we can make any recommendations for men or women. However, we see our research as a first step in the right direction.”

Dr. Albalak noted that “[a]s this was an observation[al] study, we cannot say anything about the causal effect of physical activity timing on our [cardiovascular] health.” Still, she pointed out that the study’s findings align with her group’s previous work.

“We already were able to identify that morning physical activity was associated with metabolic health — BMI, glucose levels, and insulin resistance — in a group of 207 healthy but sedentary older adults,” she said.

“Also, physical activity is, just like food intake and exposure to light, an important ‘Zeitgeber,’ or circadian clock trigger,” said Dr. Albalak.

“This means that with these behavioral aspects, we can calibrate our biological clock and the circadian rhythms with each other and our environment [day and night cycle of the earth],” she added.

“From other research, we know that eating after 8 p.m. or exposing ourselves to bright light at night can have detrimental effects on our biological clock. We hypothesize that being physically active in the morning is the most appropriate timing to correctly set your clock.”

Dr. Siddiqi noted:

“For the majority of people, we are simply trying to introduce the habit of physical activity, and so any time of day is better than nothing. As a general rule, though, I try to make exercise promotion simple and flexible to increase adoption, recognizing that timing of exercise is a fine adjustment that has practical aspects and limitations.”

Overhead view of 3 males rowing across a river — In a recent paper, researchers reviewed studies linking three key lifestyle factors to brain health. Mint Images RF/Getty Images

In a recent paper, researchers reviewed studies linking exercise, relationships, and passion to brain health.
They found reasonable evidence that all three factors offer protection against cognitive decline.
Their review noted that randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm their findings.

Changes to cognitive function during the aging process are related to the brain’s white and gray matter volume.

Gray matter consists of biological structures, including neuronal cell bodies, synapses, and capillaries, whereas white matter consists of myelinated axons, through which signals are carried between neurons.

Gray matter volume steadily declines at around 10 years of age. Research suggests that medically and cognitively healthier individuals experience less brain atrophy than less healthy individuals.

Studies also show that regular exercise, strong relationships, and passion are key to maintaining a healthy brain during the aging process.

In a recent paper, researchers performed a thorough review of the extensive body of literature available on the link between brain physiology development, and physical activity, social relationships, and passion. Based on the evidence, they report that increased passion for an area or skill leads to more physical activity, more social relationships, and better well-being.

“[From our research], we have found that passion- or strong interest- may be a [key motivational factor for achievement and well-being] as it sets the direction of the arrow,“ Hermundur Sigmundsson, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the lead author, told Medical News Today.

“Therefore, we say: Find your passion and develop it! Grit, or perseverance, is the size and strength of the arrow. Find your interest area and focus on the process. [Be ready to] take challenges! Challenges are key for development!” he added.

The paper was recently published in a special issue of Brain Sciences.

Observational studies indicate that an active lifestyle is helpful for maintaining cognitive and neurological health across age groups — especially in higher order processes such as switching between tasks, working memory, and cognitive inhibition.

The researchers noted in their paper that intervention studies had confirmed these findings.

For example, older adults who underwent 1 hour of aerobic training 3 times per week for 6 months had increased gray and white matter volume compared to controls.

Other research shows that physical activity increases functionality in brain areas linked to attention and attention control, daily life activities, and cognitive reserve, a reserve of thinking abilities that acts as a buffer against age-related cognitive decline.

The new paper points to studies that suggest that maintaining social ties enhances cognitive reserve through cognitive strategies, greater neural growth, and synaptic density, which protect against pathological processes.

Imaging studies have demonstrated that larger social networks are linked to a larger orbitofrontal cortex — involved in decision-making — and amygdala volume.

These studies also demonstrate that less socially active people have a greater number of white matter lesions.

In addition, randomized control trials have shown that social relations may enhance cognitive reserve, and interventions have shown that increased social interaction in communities is linked to better cognitive function and larger brain volume.

Other studies, however, indicate no link between social relations and cognitive function later in life. The researchers thus suggest that more robust evidence from randomized controlled trials is needed to demonstrate causality.

In their paper, the researchers defined passion as “a strong feeling toward a personally important value/preference that motivates intentions and behaviors to express that value/preference.”

Other research has found that passion is related to more deliberate practice among football players and better well-being and performance among workers.

The researchers also noted that passion might thus be important for maintaining neural plasticity. They wrote: “…hence repetition, use it or lose it, use it and improve it and intensity.”

An example of this is someone who is passionate about learning new languages. The researchers wrote that passion could motivate an individual to practice the second language more and thus strengthen their gray matter, neural cells, and connections.

They also noted that psychological traits such as grit and a growth mindset have also been linked to the development of gray matter in different parts of the brain.

The researchers further cited a number of articles that suggest impaired motor function, antisocial behavior, depression, and anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure) are common in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders and in the natural aging process.

They thus suggested that a “vicious cycle” may be at play: less physical activity may promote less social engagement and lower well-being.

“Passion gives direction to the area of interest, which could be related to the dopamine system, which is central in attention, learning, goal-directed behaviors, and rewards. Passion may be providing the focus essential for long-term goal achievement,” wrote the researchers.

When asked how physical activity, socializing, and passion improve brain health, Art Kramer, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the department of psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, not involved in the research, told MNT:

“We know more about the mechanisms that underlie physical activity than social interactions or learning novel skills since there is a multi-decade literature on physical activity effects on brain health and learning and memory because there are excellent animal models for physical activity (often wheel running with rodents).”

“The animal literature suggests a number of brain changes associated with physical activity, including new neurons in brain regions that support memory, more connections among neurons (called synapses), and increases in vascular structure. Increases in neurotransmitters and nerve growth factors (among other changes) have also been associated with increases in physical activity in animal models.”

– Art Kramer, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The researchers concluded that physical exercise, social interactions, and passion are key to maintaining brain health.

When asked about the paper’s limitations, Dr. Sigmundsson noted that their article is just a review and that intervention studies focusing on increasing passion, physical activity, and social engagement need to be carried out to confirm their hypotheses.

Dr. Kramer added: “There are a number of limitations, including how best to personalize these factors to enhance cognitive and brain function in individuals as well as how best to combine intellectual engagement, physical activity and social interactions to maximize their benefits across the lifespan and with non-patients and patients alike.”

Tag: exercise

Morning exercise linked to lowest risk

Passion, exercise, and relationships protect against cognitive decline