What Is The Best Time To Exercise For Cardiovascular Health?

Combining physical activity, a Mediterranean-style diet, maintaining a normal weight, and avoiding smoking are one of the most beneficial ways to nourish your heart.

As a result of regular cardio-based physical activity, the heart can achieve improved blood flow, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and reduce the incidence of heart arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, through improved blood flow and blood pressure and cholesterol [1].

So, in short, regular exercise has several benefits for your cardiovascular health.

And now, what if working out at a certain time can benefit your heart health? And that's what researchers at Human Physiological Sciences Department at Skidmore College, NY looked into [2]. The results indicated that people who exercise early in the day have the greatest reduction in heart disease risk; this is particularly true for women. So the best time to exercise may be around 11 am.

What Is The Best Time To Exercise For Cardiovascular Health?

Here are the important points from the study:

Point 1: Researchers examined the effect of exercising at different times on preventing cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Point 2: According to the study, physical activity in the morning, between 8 am and 11 am, was most effective in reducing the risk of CVD (Cardiovascular Disease) and stroke compared with activity at other times of the day.

Point 3: Moreover, the study authors found that people who exercised early and late in the morning derived the greatest benefits from exercise.

Point 4: The study found that people who exercised early in the morning had a 16 per cent lower risk of developing CAD and a 17 per cent lower risk of having their first stroke. They also had a 21 per cent lower risk of having their first ischemic stroke.

Point 5: A separate analysis of women and men revealed that women benefited significantly more from morning exercise. Women who exercised early or late in the day reduced their risk of coronary artery disease by 22 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

Can Extreme Exercise Increase The Risk Of Heart Problems?

Point 6: Researchers could not explain why the results were different for men and women and suggested that one possible explanation could be that the aetiology of cardiovascular disease differs between men and women [3][4][5].

Point 7: In response to the question of whether the habits of the people changed with time, the study authors pointed out that as a group, given that the study population was largely middle-aged to older adults with presumably 'formed' behaviour patterns, there isn't a strong indication that these habits will change significantly over time [6].

On A Final Note...

As a result, the study findings suggest morning exercise can improve women's cardiovascular health and lower their incidence of CVD risk. However, the researchers also added that more research is needed before we can make any recommendations for men or women.