The message about exercise and type 2 diabetes is: exercise any time you can. However, it appears that timing of exercise may also be important
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Joslin Diabetes Care investigators examined the link between the time of day in which Type 2 diabetics exercised (at moderate-to-high intensity) and their cardiovascular fitness and health risks. Their findings were published in February in Diabetes Care.
One of the authors of the study commented ““The general message for our patient population remains that you should exercise whenever you can as regular exercise provides significant benefits for health“.
But when is the best time to exercise? Does the time matter at all?
Researchers looked at 2,035 people who had taken part in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study, which began in 2001 and included more than 5,000 people with diabetes and who were overweight or obese.
The results were:
- men who exercised in the morning had the highest risk of developing CHD – regardless of how much or how hard they exercised.
- Men most active at midday, meanwhile, had lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels.
- Women – among the women studied, there was no strong link between the time of activity and their risk of cardiovascular disease (CHD) or their fitness levels.
The study had limitations such as:
- men tend to develop CHD earlier in life
- circadian rhythms were not taken into consideration
- study design: type of study and limited number of participants
- it applied only to people with diabetes or obesity
So what if you are not a type 2 diabetic and are not obese?
Can you just ignore all this? Find out here:
REFERENCES
https://blog.thediabetessite.greatergood.com/exercise-timing-health-risk-diabetes/
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2021/02/11/dc20-2178