To Your Health
April, 2023 (Vol. 17, Issue 04) |
|
|
Burn More Fat Early
By Editorial Staff
Congratulations if you're an early riser who hits the gym in your effort to lose weight; new research suggests you've got an advantage over people who work out later in the day. The reason: It appears to be the best time to burn fat. Let's see why that's the case and how much difference it can make.
Researchers used a mouse model to demonstrate the power of morning exercise on fat loss. A single exercise session performed early in the day (within three hours of waking up) burned more adipose tissue (body fat) than exercise performed in the late evening. The researchers analyzed adipose tissue every four hours after the exercise session (20 hours total) to see how exercise influenced fat burning based on time of day.
Late-morning exercise facilitated increased fatty acids in the bloodstream, both directly after exercise and 12 hours following exercise. By comparison, late-evening exercise did not facilitate any such increases. This difference corresponded with an estimated double the fat breakdown for morning exercisers vs. evening exercisers. (Fat tissue releases fatty acids during exercise for the body to utilize as energy. This process reduces the size of fat cells.)
Gene function also appeared to be modulated by early exercise; particularly genes related to fat burning, heat production and blood vessel production (all of which matter when it comes to fat loss and blood-sugar regulation). Findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
