If you’re anything like me, you’re probably up at the crack of dawn. You wake up, get out of bed and go pour a cup of coffee, tea or sanka. You go get the paper. You read. You do some chores. You turn on the TV and you sit. Now, all of this seems like perfectly acceptable behavior for us aging adults. After all, we’ve been working our entire lives and we deserve to spend our twilight years living leisurely.
But what if I told you that you could still do all these things AND have a better life? Well, you can. And all you need to do is incorporate about 20-30 minutes of exercise somewhere between “pour a cup of coffee” and “get the paper.”
Research shows that morning exercise provides a plethora of fantastic benefits for aging adults.
Heart benefits:
Working out in the morning may actually better for your heart. It’s pretty straight forward: as fitness levels gets better, the heart gets healthier. Dr. Nieca Goldberg, Chief of Women’s Cardiac Care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, not only confirms that “exercise helps improve many risk factors for heart disease,” but she also says that it can help you lower blood pressure, maintain a healthier weight, strengthen your heart by delivering more blood to muscles, raise healthy cholesterol (HDL levels) and lower unhealthy cholesterol (LDL).
Moreover, exercise’s impact on the cardiovascular system is thought to be greater in the morning. “One of the ways that your body naturally wakes you up is by increasing levels of hormones like adrenaline, which causes your heart to beat faster,” says health expert Fiora Stevens at the Daily Health Post. “This means that you can eke out some extra cardiovascular benefits when you work out in the morning.”
Brain power:
Research suggests that exercise increases mental focus and acuity for up to 10 hours because of an increase in the flow of oxygen to your brain. This natural result not only impacts your concentration and awareness, but reduces risk for problems that could lead to memory loss (e.g. diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.), enhances production of helpful chemicals that protect brain cells, and improves memory.
Though most of us would find these benefits desirable regardless of time of day, not many of us need more alertness before we go to bed. So if you wait until later in the day to exercise, you may be wasting that mental boost.
More energy:
Last but not certainly not least, early-in-the-day workouts could give you the energy to help you through even the busiest days.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic claim that “regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance… deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and help your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have more energy.” This increase in energy due to the fact that physical fitness promotes the release of compounds like endorphins that improve mood and increase vigor.
You’re probably awake anyway, so you might as well be doing something productive, right?