Do you want to lose weight? Set your alarm early and exercise first thing in the morning. The idea might appear “traumatic” to some, but according to Swedish scientists who conducted a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the best way to lose weight would be to plan a workout in the morning.
Although the study was based only on the observation of mice, experts believe that the findings could also prove very useful for humans. Scientists have studied, in particular, biological processes in rodents forced to run in the morning or in the evening. Result: mice that exercised in their first active phase, corresponding to morning for humans, had a higher metabolic rate.
What did the study reveal?
We already know that exercise allows the body to release a ton of substances that improve health in various ways and affect sleep, memory, mental performance and metabolism. The researchers therefore monitored how these signals were released from different organs in the mice, depending on the time of day they exercised. One group of mice ran on a treadmill early in the morning, while others followed the same routine late in the evening. The researchers then examined the blood samples together with monitoring of the brain, heart, muscles, liver and fat: after analyzing the data collected, they thus found that genes involved in fat breakdown and thermogenesis (heat production) were more active in mice that exercised in the morningsuggesting that that type of training had a greater effect on their metabolic rate. This bodily process, which transforms food into energy to breathe, think and move, in fact determines how many calories you burn per day. People with high metabolisms therefore consume more calories and are more likely to lose weight.
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“Our results suggest that, in terms of boosting metabolism and burning fat, exercising in the morning may prove to be more effective than a late evening workout,” explains Professor Juleen Zierath, a biologist at Karolinska Institutet.
New points to develop
It must be said, however, that the study he only looked at the race, while other types of exercise might trigger different results. And age, gender, and underlying health conditions weren’t factored into the analysis either. Additionally, mice are physiologically nocturnal, which may have influenced the final data. “Despite these limitations, we believe the findings are of potential relevance to humans because many aspects of basic physiology are shared between mice and humans,” Zierath said.
Indeed, this new input may prove especially useful for overweight people. The team, which also includes researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, will continue the research activity in the hope that these first results can already help develop more effective training models also for patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity.
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