Challenge 2, Day 17: Timing Exercise

What is the best time to exercise? What gets us the most bang for our buck and burns the most calories? Those early birds gleefully cheer that waking up before the sun is best, while night owls retort that it's better after the sun goes to bed. And then there are those who just wish exercising could just magically get done outside of the 24-hour day since there is way too much to get done.

What's the best time of day to work out?

The New York Times published a new study that found that the afternoon, my favorite time of day, is the best time of day to work out. Here's the nugget of gold that I found while skimming the article:

...animals that ran later produced more clock proteins and pumped the protein more efficiently to the rest of the body than animals that ran early in their day... Late-night exercise, meanwhile, is probably inadvisable, he continues. Unpublished results from his lab show that healthy mice running at the animal equivalent of 11 p.m. or so developed significant disruptions in their circadian rhythm. Among other effects, they slept poorly.

If you want to learn more about why the afternoon wins and like science enough to read through it all, be my guest and have at it! (Then you can explain it to me in layman's terms.)

Personally, I find working out in the afternoon just feels better since I am actually awake for it and I have time to get my heart rate back down before I hit the sack. However, since I do work full-time and go to school in the evenings, it is extremely difficult to actually pencil it in at that time. Even if I weren't heading off to school right after work, I'd much rather enjoy time with Travis and friends at a happy hour or an event than spend it on a treadmill or in front of a workout DVD. Afternoons just have so much to offer! So for now, you'll find me working out in morning or night. Maybe one day...