Study reveals the optimal time to work out to live longer

Good news for those who enjoy hitting the snooze button: New research suggests working out in the afternoon could lead to a longer life.

A study published last week in the Nature Communications journal found afternoon exercisers were less likely to die prematurely from heart disease than those who work out before 11 a.m., or after 5 p.m.

Still, the researchers determined that moderate or vigorous exercise, like a brisk walk, any time of the day increases longevity and lowers the risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer compared to little or no activity at all.

Researchers collected information from more than 92,000 participants enrolled in the UK Biobank, which maintains health data for about 500,000 UK residents.

The scientists grouped participants by exercise frequency and time; analyzed their seven-day activity data via accelerometers, which can continuously record activity; and tracked mortality records.

They found the afternoon time frame, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., benefited men and the elderly the most.

The researchers noted that’s the time people are least likely to experience a heart attack.

Dr. Randy Goodroe — an interventional cardiologist with Grand Strand Heart & Vascular Care in Myrtle Beach, who was not involved with this study — has said heart attacks are more likely to occur in the morning.

“Most heart attacks hit during the early morning hours from 4-10 a.m., when blood platelets are stickier, and there is increased adrenaline released from the adrenal glands that can trigger rupture of plaques in coronary arteries,” he said in a 2022 article for Grand Strand Health.

Morning exercise enthusiasts shouldn’t sweat the new findings.

A recent study of mice concluded that working out as the sun comes up may help boost metabolism and burn more body fat.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark studied two groups of mice — one that performed high-intensity exercise in the morning and one that did so in the evening — finding the morning group burned more fat.

”Our results suggest that late morning exercise could be more effective than late evening exercise in terms of boosting the metabolism and the burning of fat, and if this is the case, they could prove of value to people who are overweight,” Professor Juleen R. Zierath, from the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet, said in a statement.