Exercising in the morning could reduce CVD risk

The timing of physical activity could affect the risk for CVD, according to study findings published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Using data collected from February 2013 to December 2015 in the UK Biobank, the researchers identified several “chrono-activity” (daily physical activity timing) subgroups of 86,657 participants (mean age, 62 years; 58% women).

“Physical activity remains one of the most distinct cornerstones in CVD prevention. The present study adds to the previous evidence that timing of physical activity is an additional independent contributing factor to CVD risk, and therefore adds a novel dimension to CVD risk prevention,” Gali Albalak, PT, PhD candidate at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote.

Participants wore an accelerometer for 7 days to measure objective physical activity.

At 6 years, compared with participants who had a midday pattern of physical activity, those who had an early morning pattern of physical activity had lower risk for incident CAD (HR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.77-0.92) and stroke (HR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.7-0.98), according to the researchers.

The effect was more pronounced in women than in men (P for interaction = .001), Albalak and colleagues wrote.

The results did not vary by total physical activity level or by sleep chronotype, according to the researchers.

“These present results might suggest that time-dependent physical activity interventions might be an added beneficial behavioral factor to reach maximum health benefits and to lower the risk of CVD,” Albalak and colleagues wrote.