Does it matter when we are physically active?

In this study the researchers investigated if the insulin-sensitizing effect of physical activity depends on the timing of the activity (Van der Velde J H P M, et.al., 2022).

775 participants were assessed for sedentary time, breaks in sedentary time and different intensities of physical activity using activity sensors, and liver fat content by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The participants were put into categories as being most active in the morning between 6:00-12:00 AM, afternoon between 12:00-6:00 PM or evening 6:00-00:00 PM or as engaging in moderate-to-vigorous-physical activity evenly distributed throughout the day.

The results showed that moderate-to-vigorous activity in the afternoon or evening was more effective for insulin sensitivity and was associated with a reduction of up to 25% in insulin resistance.

Reference

Jeroen H P M van der Velde 1, Sebastiaan C Boone 2, Esther Winters-van Eekelen 2, Matthijs K C Hesselink 3, Vera B Schrauwen-Hinderling 3 4, Patrick Schrauwen 3, Hildo J Lamb 5, Frits R Rosendaal 2, Renée de Mutsert, Timing of physical activity in relation to liver fat content and insulin resistance, Diabetologia. 2022 Nov 1.