Evening exercise might be best for controlling blood sugar levels People who got most physical activity between 6 p.m. and midnight had lower blood sugar throughout the day Men and women benefitted about the same WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Folks trying to control their blood sugar levels might do best to work out in the evening, a new study suggests.
Exercise performed between 6 p.m. and midnight appeared to be better at controlling blood sugar levels all day long, according to results published June 10 in the journal .
This was particularly true of people with the sort of impaired blood sugar regulation associated with diabetes, researchers said. The results show that doctors “should consider the optimal timing of the day to enhance the effectiveness of the exercise and physical activity programs they prescribe,” said researcher , a professor of physical activity and health with the University of Granada in Spain. For the study, researchers recruited 186 overweight and obese adults and tracked their activity and blood glucose levels for two weeks using wearable devices.
People were categorized based on when they accumulated more than 50% of each day’s moderate to vigorous physical activity – “morning” for 6 a.m. to noon, “afternoon” for noon to 6 p.
m. and “evening” for 6 p.m.
to midnight. Some were categorized as “mixed” if no defined time window accounted for more than half their day’s exercise, and others were marked as “inacti.
