A recent study performed in the US has revealed that men and women have to work out at different times of the day in order to lose weight. Therefore, according to the research, women have better results if they exercise in the morning, while for men, the results where the opposite, with the best results being obtained in the evening.
However, the best time to work out also depends on the outcome you want to achieve. Therefore, for women, exercising in the morning will help accelerate fat loss, but working out in the evening is more effective for building muscle. At the same time, morning workouts also contributed to blood pressure improvement in women, while evening sessions improved the mood and eating habits.
In the case of men, the results did not actually depend very much on the time of the day. The participants in the study seemed to have a similar outcome no matter if they exercised in the morning or in the evening. However, according to the main author of the study, Dr. Paul Arcerio, working out in the evening was “ideal for men interested in improving heart and metabolic health, as well as emotional wellbeing”. These improvements have the potential to decrease the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
The reason why the results are different for men and women are not very clear, though. The researchers mentioned that there is more investigation needed on this subject, but that the cause may lie in hormonal differences, in different internal rhythms, as well as in different sleep-wake cycles between men and women.
According to The Telegraph, “the study of 30 men and 26 women – all active and healthy, and between 25 and 55 years old – lasted 12 weeks and monitored the effects of a varied fitness programme, which included stretching, sprint, resistance and endurance training”.
