Researchers Just Figured Out The Best Time Of Day To Exercise

While exercising is known to be an important part of an overall healthy lifestyle, questions have remained over whether exercising during a certain time of the day results in more benefits. A new study offers a potential answer, finding that night owls who schedule their recreational activities later in the day may get less beneficial effects from that exercise compared to people who exercise in the morning.READ: Study links eating Mediterranean diet with better exercise performance

The study comes out of the University of California, Irvine, where researchers found that exercising around mid-morning had an overall better effect on one's health compared to exercise that takes place in other parts of the day.

The findings join past research that found the timing of food intake may also be an important part of supporting one's health. Exercising during the right time of the day was described as "critical" for getting the most benefits.

The study looked at mice and found "distinct changes" in their metabolism during exercise that took place in the morning and evening. When comparing the two, the study found that morning exercise resulted in greater utilization of ketone bodies and carbohydrates, as well as improved breakdown of amino acids and fats.

Talking about the research is UCI School of Medicine's Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism director Paolo Sassone-Corsi, PhD, who said:

Using mice, we compared the impact of exercise on the skeletal muscle metabolism at different times of day. We discovered that exercising at the correct time of day – around mid-morning – results in more oxygen in the cells and a more rejuvenating effect on the body ... Our results clearly indicate that time-of-day is a critical factor to amplify the beneficial impact of exercise on both metabolic pathways within skeletal muscle and systemic energy homeostasis.