Getting physical activity at any time of the day is definitely beneficial, but morning physical activity has big advantages!
First, it has been found that more than 90% of those who exercise “consistently” exercise in the morning. Think about it: often you may be planning to exercise “later”, but unexpected events arise and push your activity out of your schedule. Morning physical activity helps us to be more consistent.
Second, physical activity in the morning “jump starts” your metabolism and keeps it elevated throughout the day. If you choose to exercise at night you’ll miss out on much of the benefits of your elevated metabolism, and your sleep might be affected.
Third, exercising in the morning gives you the satisfaction of knowing that you have already gotten in your activity for the day. And you don’t have to worry about trying to fit it in later if something unexpected comes up.
Fourth, physical activity helps you to be mentally alert. By exercising in the morning, you are more mentally awake all day — not just or a few hours.
With physical activity, sometimes we carry an “all-or-nothing” mentality. We often think if we don’t get the activity we want just when we want it, then it’s not worth it. But research shows that an accumulation of just three 10-minute activity sessions a day can make a tremendous impact on our health. Every minute helps.
So many of us long for balance in our lives, but our lives will never be truly balanced until we make intentional activity a vital part of our day. And, in the end, we don’t want to merely do “our best” — we want to do our balanced best!