Women who exercise in the morning may have a lower risk of heart problems or stroke - Study

A study has suggested that women should work out in the morning to lower the risk of suffering from heart problems or a stroke.

More than 85,000 people in the UK were looked at and the physical activity levels of these people were monitored with a fitness tracker which they wore for a week, the Daily Mail informs.

These people were divided into four groups and included those people who were most active at around 8am (early morning) and those people most active around 10am or mid-morning.

The other two groups comprised of those individuals most active at noon time and in the evening around 7pm.

It was found that those people exercising first thing in the morning or mid-morning had a lower risk of developing heart issues like a heart attack and a stroke, or a brain attack.

Gali Albalak, the study lead from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, is reported to have said, 'It is well established that exercise is good for heart health, and our study now indicates that morning activity seems to be most beneficial.

'The findings were particularly pronounced in women, and applied to both early birds and night owls.'

The study which is published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology looked at 85,000 individuals aged between 42 to 78 who never had cardiovascular disease.

These people’s exercise timings were recorded and they were monitored for six to eight years. During the span of this time – it was observed that 2,911 people developed heart issues and almost 800 of these people had a stroke.

The peak activity times across a 24 hours period were compared, and researchers discovered that those who were most active between 8am and 11am had the lowest risk of heart disease and stroke.

Additionally, those people who exercised most, first thing in the morning at 8 were found to be 11 per cent less likely to develop heart issues in comparison to those who exercised around noon.

Also, those who exercised most during mid-morning were found to be 16 per cent less likely to have heart issues and 17 per cent less likely to have a stroke compared to those people who exercised around noon time.

The results reportedly held true despite people being rather active or quite inactive or whether they were a morning person or an evening person. However, when the results were analysed for men and women, it was discovered that women seemed to benefit significantly from being active most in the morning, while men did not seem to considerably benefit from exercising in the morning.

Overall, women who exercised in the early morning or late morning had a risk of heart problems which was reportedly more than a fifth lower than those women who exercised most around noon.

Speaking about these findings, Albalak is quoted as saying, 'It is too early for formal advice to prioritise morning exercise as this is quite a new field of research.

'But we hope that one day we can refine current recommendations simply by adding one line - "when exercising, it's advised to do so in the morning".'

Additionally, Dr Raymond Noordam, who is the senior author of the study from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, reportedly said, 'There is no doubt that exercise is beneficial, whatever the time of day, and this is the most important message.

'But these new results show getting most physical activity in the morning may be more beneficial,' he said.