Studies suggest that exercising in the afternoon or evening may be better for blood sugar control than spreading the activity throughout the day.
New research published in the journal Diabetes They found that exercising between noon and midnight could reduce insulin resistance by up to a quarter.
Insulin resistance is a condition in which muscle, fat, and liver cells become less responsive to insulin and cannot readily take up glucose from the blood.
This causes the pancreas to produce more insulin to help glucose enter the cells.
As long as the pancreas can produce enough insulin to overcome the cells’ weak response, blood sugar levels will stay in a healthy range, but sometimes blood sugar levels get too high and sugar stays in the bloodstream.
This can lead to pre-diabetes (the stage before diabetes is diagnosed) or diabetes.
The new study was conducted by Dr. Jeroen van der Velde and colleagues at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.
Previous studies have demonstrated that exercise is associated with increased sensitivity to insulin, thereby reducing the risk of developing diabetes.
The team used data from the Dutch Obesity Study, which included men and women between the ages of 45 and 65 with a body mass index (BMI) of 27 or greater (in the overweight or obese category).
Another group of people was used as a control group. In other words, the overall study included 6,671 people.
Participants underwent a physical examination and blood samples were taken to measure fasting and postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels.
People were also asked about their lifestyle, and some were randomly selected to measure liver fat content using MRI scans.
A randomized group of 955 people wore a combination accelerometer and heart rate monitor for four consecutive days and nights to monitor their exercise and activity levels.
Approximately 775 individuals with complete data were included in the analysis.
The results showed that spending time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity decreased liver fat content and also decreased insulin resistance.
Exercising in the afternoon or evening was found to reduce insulin resistance by 18% and 25%, respectively, compared to evenly distributed activity throughout the day.
There was no significant difference in insulin resistance between morning activity and activity spread evenly throughout the day, the study found.
Researchers conclude:
“Further research is needed to assess whether the timing of physical activity is really important in the development of type 2 diabetes.” – dpa
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