5 Surprising Benefits of Evening Exercises (Backed By Science)

Exercising is important, but do evening exercises have any specific benefits?

Does working out in the evening make a difference?

Exercise in the evening makes sense. Many researchers believe that the timing of exercise manipulates the body’s internal clock.

This can help you sleep better, improve muscle recovery, and lower stress.

In this post, we’ll discuss the benefits of evening exercises.

Finally, we’ll give some useful tips on how to help improve your evening exercises.

After all, research emphasizes that type of exercise can impact your results more than the time of exercise.

Let’s dive in now!

1. Promotes better sleep 

If you are struggling with better sleep, here is the solution for you. 

One of the main benefits of evening exercises is that it enhances the quality of sleep.

Here’s why.

Our circadian cycles play in good sleep hygiene. Most often, moderate-intensity exercise impacts this cycle and therefore improves your sleep schedule. 

But here’s the thing.

It’s better to stick to low-intensity exercises in the evening.

Researchers found that doing high-intensity exercise within two hours of going to bed can hurt sleep.

It can also cause physiological changes that can interfere with sleep patterns. 

2. Enhances cardiac health  

Regular evening exercise can impact your body, cardiac health, and metabolism significantly.

Metabolism refers to the process our bodies absorb food and drink, and convert them to energy.

So how do evening exercises specifically improve your cardiac health?

Here’s how:

Balanced triglycerides and glucose levels in your blood are directly proportional to your balanced cardiac health.

When it comes to lowering 24-hour glucose and lipid levels, late afternoon endurance activity is superior to early endurance exercise.

An intense morning workout may impair the blood glucose level.

But the same intensity workout can be useful in improving the sugar level and metabolic rate in the evening. 

Another study also reports the benefits of evening exercises in lowering cholesterol levels which ultimately improves cardiac health.

3. Lowers stress level 

If you’re like me, after a long, stressful day, you feel too lazy to do anything worthwhile.

Exercise can help you to reduce your stress as exercise is associated with an endorphin rush.  

Here’s what I mean.

Endorphin is a hormone that relaxes the body so it can act as a relaxing nightcap to make you ready for bed.

It has a special ability to energize and quiet, stimulate and pacify, combat depression and reduce tension.

An evening exercise session can make you stress-free to start an incredible next day. 

4. Improves physical activity 

Your body can experience improved physical activity in evening exercises. 

The body’s capacity for performance reaches its optimum in the afternoon.  

When the body temperature rises throughout the day, it improves performance-related factors.

Think of factors such as:

• muscle function
• strength
• enzyme reaction
• stamina, and
• endurance

But that’s not all.

It can take up to 20% longer for persons who exercise in the evening to feel exhausted. 

In lots of cases, research shows that evening exercise can be more effective than morning exercise in both men and women. 

5. Improves muscle strength 

There are immense perks of evening exercises if you’re a muscle-building freak.

Yes, evening time exercise can also edge you by helping in boosting muscle strength. 

For example research in IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences suggests that evening workouts may produce more testosterone than in the morning.

Testosterone is a hormone that is crucial in building muscle mass in men and women.

Related: 21 Free Weight Exercises for Strength, Muscle, and Balance (With Videos)

Takeaway

There has always been a debate on choosing the time of the day for exercise.

The ideal time to work out might be the evening but there isn’t enough evidence to suggest one time over another. 

Several studies have reported evening time is the best for exercise but it is not conclusive.

In this blog post, we have discussed the key benefits of evening exercises. 

Although we’re not there yet, many recent types of research are shedding new light on how physical activity and the body’s circadian rhythm interact.

We hope you are a bit clear now on choosing the best time for exercise.

Well, be consistent and stick to a routine that can easily match your schedule and health preferences.