Why women should work-out in the MORNING

Women who exercise in the morning may have a lower risk of suffering heart problems or a stroke.

A study of more than 85,000 people in the UK looked at their physical activity levels while they wore a fitness tracker for a week.

People were split into four groups, including those who were most active in the early morning, at around 8am, and those most active mid-morning at around 10am.

The other two groups contained people most active at midday and in the evening at around 7pm.

People who exercised first thing in the morning or mid-morning were found to have a lower risk of developing heart problems, including a heart attack, the most common form of angina and coronary heart disease.

Those who exercised mid-morning were less likely to have a stroke.

Gali Albalak, who led the study from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said: ‘It is well established that exercise is good for heart health, and our study now indicates that morning activity seems to be most beneficial.

‘The findings were particularly pronounced in women, and applied to both early birds and night owls.’

The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, looked at people aged 42 to 78 who had never had cardiovascular disease and had signed up to the UK Biobank health study.

After their exercise timing was recorded, they were followed up for six to eight years, during which time 2,911 people developed heart problems and almost 800 had a stroke.

Comparing peak activity times across a 24-hour period, researchers found being most active between 8 am and 11 am was linked with the lowest risk of both heart disease and stroke.

The group of people who exercised most first thing, at around 8am, were 11 per cent less likely to develop heart problems compared to those most active around midday.

People who exercised most mid-morning were 16 per cent less likely to have heart problems, and 17 per cent less likely to have a stroke than people who were most active around noon.

The results held true regardless of whether people were generally rather active, or quite inactive, and whether they described themselves as a morning person or an evening person.

But, when the results were analysed separately for men and women, the researchers found women appeared to benefit significantly from exercising most in the morning, while men did not.

Women who were most active in the early morning or late morning had a risk of heart problems which was more than a fifth lower than those who exercised most around midday.

Ms Albalak said: ‘It is too early for formal advice to prioritise morning exercise as this is quite a new field of research.

‘But we hope that one day we can refine current recommendations simply by adding one line – “when exercising, it’s advised to do so in the morning”.’

Dr Raymond Noordam, senior author of the study from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said: ‘There is no doubt that exercise is beneficial, whatever the time of day, and this is the most important message.

‘But these new results show getting most physical activity in the morning may be more beneficial.’