Recent research highlights the significant impact that exercise timing and consistency can have on heart fitness, particularly in older adults. Karyn Esser, PhD, chair of the University of Florida’s department of physiology and aging. She is the principal investigator of a new study looking at how these factors play an important role in overall health and well-being. These results point to the importance of when we fit physical activity, indicating that moving more in the morning may provide the greatest health benefits.
The study’s findings support what we’re increasingly learning about circadian rhythms. These biological rhythms regulate many behaviors during the day including the time of day that people might decide to go exercise for example. These circadian and ultradian rhythms affect performance measures and have important ramifications on health outcomes as well. Timing and consistency in exercise, stressed Esser, the study’s senior author, are important. He painted an optimistic picture of how these factors can dramatically improve health as people grow older.
To calculate the impact of pre-exercise and post-exercise, the study had participants wear wrist-worn accelerometers for seven days. This new technology, wrist worn accelerometers measured daily activity levels immediately as participants completed cardiopulmonary exercise testing to assess heart and lung health. The researchers found something really interesting. Specifically, they discovered that those who peaked their daily activity earlier in the day possessed better cardiorespiratory fitness and walking efficiency.
“We found that earlier peak activity was associated with better outcomes even when you take into account the amount of activity,” – Karyn Esser
Gait, or walking efficiency, is a key marker of healthy aging. It’s a measure of how efficiently your body consumes energy when you’re in motion. These findings suggest that the more consistent the day-to-day pattern of activities is, the better the health outcome. Most importantly, increasing daily movement is associated with a longer lifespan and lower overall mortality rates.
Esser stated, “While we are living longer, in general, we are not living healthier.” We need to create new approaches that enable more people to stay healthy or become healthy as we age. As a result, these strategies are helping to improve their quality of life and reduce the burden of chronic diseases associated with aging.
This study’s findings underscored the critical role of daily activity amplitude. This is all about the cumulative dose of activity you get during the day and has been associated with healthy aging. Esser stressed the importance of timing and reproducibility in exercise. These extrinsic factors probably work with a person’s intrinsic circadian clock system to optimize health.
“We suggest that the earlier time of activity and repeatability of the activity provide benefits in addition to just the activity alone,” – Karyn Esser
It’s a reminder to us all that maintaining an active lifestyle is key to staying healthy. They further stress the importance of optimizing the timing of that activity. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center, remarked on the implications for public health, stating, “Getting regular exercise is an essential part of staying healthy as you get older.”
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