One of the most frequently asked questions these days is “When is the best time to exercise?" Exercise in the early morning is recommended as having a regular wake-up time helps set a regular daily cycle. Also, taking some fresh air and working out facilitates the secretion of adrenaline, helping you start a new day more actively and easily. However, the effectiveness of exercise itself is higher at night. Adrenocortical hormones and the thyroid stimulating hormone are known to be secreted more during night workouts and increase the efficiency of exercise by boosting metabolism and waking up the body. Exercise at night is also recommended if you are night owls. However, if you are early birds, early morning workouts are better. So, in short, this should be up to your individual life style.

Long story short, doing all the workouts for the week only on the weekend is dangerous. Cramming workouts never helps improve your health. This will only make you feel severely tired next day and disrupt you all day long. Also, if you are over 40 or have the so called adult diseases, cramming workouts on the weekend may do more harm than good, for example, by causing a sudden hike in blood pressure or muscle or bone injuries. The key to staying healthy is not about doing long workouts but about doing them regularly. In other words, working out for an hour on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday is healthier than exercising for five hour on the weekend.

If you are healthy, how regular your workouts are matters more than when you do exercise, as workouts both in the early morning and late at night are good. However, if you have chronic conditions such as hypertension or diabetes, night workouts are more efficient. While many with chronic conditions believe working out at night is unhealthy, early morning exercise can be in fact dangerous to those who suffer from the conditions. Generally, blood pressure is at the highest of the day right after getting up, and exercising early in the morning might be risky, giving too much strain to the brain and the heart. According to a research, the risk of heart attacks is in fact at least twice higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Night workouts are also recommended for diabetics, as working out early in the morning on an empty stomach might cause hypoglycemia. Also, people tend to eat more in the evening than in the morning, so night workouts can help lower the blood sugar level.

While you tend to exercise hurriedly in the morning as you have to get ready for work or school, you have more time at night. So, workouts you can do longer, such as walking or a light jog, are more widely recommended at night than some hard one like ball games. Still, exercising too long may disturb a good night’s sleep, and a maximum of two hours is recommended. Working out at night too intensely also stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to disrupt a sleep. Therefore, avoid intense workouts and finish them at the latest two hours before going to bed.

When you work out at night, be careful about your safety. Avoid dark places to reduce the risk of falls. Whether it’s day or night, please avoid exercising too much. Always make sure to listen to your body and consider your health conditions.