When Should I Run?
Running is a difficult exercise no matter what time of day you do it. However, you might be wondering when is the best time to run? Most people try to fit in their running whenever their schedule allows.
For many people the only time of day that they can fit in a run is in the morning. However, is running in the morning actually good or bad for you?
In fact, more than just getting your workout out of the way, running in the morning actually has many benefits that you might not have realized!
Sleep Better
It might seem counterintuitive, but waking up early in the morning to get in your run actually can help you sleep better!
In fact, according to a 2014 study in the journal of Vascular Health and Risk Management, researchers discovered that running in the morning helps contribute to deeper sleep cycles than running in the afternoon or evening.[1]NCBI – Effects of exercise timing on sleep architecture and nocturnal blood pressure in prehypertensives
In addition, another 2017 study in the journal Sleep Medicine showed that working out in the morning for people who normally had difficulty sleeping, dramatically improved their quality of sleep.[2]NCBI – Effects of acute morning and evening exercise on subjective and objective sleep quality in older individuals with insomnia.
Lower Blood Pressure
While working out in general is a great way to reduce high blood pressure, according to studies working out in the morning contributes to a greater reduction in nighttime blood pressure.[3]Mayo Clinic – Aerobic exercise: Top 10 reasons to get physical
In other words, your body does not have to work as hard at night. This in turn is a great way to reduce the overall cardiovascular stress on your system.
Running for Hunger Control
It might sound counterintuitive, but running first thing in the morning before eating anything can actually reduce your hunger cravings!
According to a 2012 study in the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, people who worked out 45 minutes first thing in the morning were not as hungry when prompted with food.[4]NCBI – Neural response to pictures of food after exercise in normal-weight and obese women
In addition, the study found that not only were people less hungry, they were also much more productive for the next 24 hours than people who did not exercise in the morning!
Sounds like another great reason to get in runs in the morning.
Help Lose Weight Fast
Another great benefit of running in the morning is that it helps promote quicker weight loss.
By running first thing in the morning, you can jump start your metabolism. This helps your body burn more calories throughout the day.[5]Consumer Health Digest – How Metabolism Influence Individuals Weight
In addition, by waking up early in the morning for your run, you have to also go to sleep earlier in the evenings. This reduces the time that you might be eating empty calories in midnight snacks!
The combination of increased metabolism and reduction of calorie intake are important steps in your weight loss journey.
Eating Before or After Running
When going out for a morning run, especially when you are trying to lose some weight, you might be asking yourself is it better to eat before or after your run?
According to research, there is no conclusive evidence either way. In fact, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, the difference between eating before or after your morning run were difference with regards to fat lose.[6]Research Gate – Effect of Overnight Fasted Exercise on Weight Loss and Body Composition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Therefore, eating before or after your morning run is really up to you!
However, this brings us to an important part of running, your nutrition plan. It is important that you are eating a healthy and nutritious diet in order to full your running.
If you decide to go the no breakfast route with your morning runs, make sure to follow it up with a healthy lunch and dinner.
If you need some ideas for a healthy diet to include with your running, consider the Keto diet and check out the The Top 10 Keto Mistakes You Should Avoid.
What Are the Disadvantages?
While there are many advantages to running in the morning, we would be remiss to not include some of the disadvantages as well. It is important to understand them so that you can chose for yourself whether running in the morning will work for you.
The main disadvantages with running in the morning include:
- Waking up early in the morning, especially during the winter time, means that you will be running in the dark. This means that it will be cold. If you do not deal with cold well, morning runs might not work well for you. However, if you have a treadmill, you can help alleviate this concern.
- If you will be running in the morning, that last time you have eaten would have been a bit. Therefore, when going out on your morning runs, you will have a lower blood sugar level. This means that you will not have as much anaerobic energy stores for you run. However, this can also be an advantage as you will have to train your body to be more efficient at using your aerobic energy system!
- Waking up in the morning is hard! Getting out of your warm and comfy bed before the crack of dawn takes a lot of discipline.
- In the mornings, you are much more likely to be stiff. As such, this can make it much more difficult to run comfortably. One of the great ways to alleviate this problem is through stretching and yoga.
- By waking up early, you might be sacrificing some hours of precious sleep. This can have a dramatic negative impact on your physical and mental health and negate the positive effects of waking up early to go on a run. If this is the case for you, it is probably better to either sleep in and run later or go to bed earlier.[7]Early Morning Run – Advantages and Disadvantages of Running in the Morning
Things to Consider If You Run in the Morning
Running in the morning comes with its own set of things you need to consider.
First, it is naturally much darker. This means that you need to take precautions with regards to your safety in the dark. For example, cars will not be able to as easily see you when you are running on the side of the road. Therefore, it is important to not wear dark running clothes and gear.
Instead, wear bright, reflective clothing so that you stand out.
In addition, running in the dark makes it hard to see where you are going especially if there are no street lamps in your area. Therefore, it is important that you bring a light, such as a headlamp.
Additional Tips
- If you have to go to work in the morning, make sure to wake up a bit earlier so that you have enough time to warm up properly, run, cool down, and take a shower. If you notice that you are a bit tired and running slower than usual, do not feel bad if you need to cut your morning run short.
- Plan the night ahead. The night before you go for your morning run, make sure that you prepare and place out all of your running clothes/gear as well as your work clothes. This makes it so that you do not have any excuses in the morning to go out for your run. All you have to do when you wake up is put your clothes on and run out the door!
- Run with other people. Finding motivation to run in the mornings when you are doing it all by yourself can be very hard. You will find a lot more motivation if you can find a running partner, or even better, a running group, to go out on your morning runs. It makes it a lot more difficult to skip out on a morning run if you know other people are counting and waiting for you!
- Drink some water. While eating before your morning run is up to what works best for you, you should still make sure to at least drink some water before your morning run. This is because you are most likely to be a bit dehydrated in the mornings from not having drunk an water since the night before.[8]Consumer Health Digest – Running In The Morning: Is It Good Or Bad
Parting Words
Running in the mornings is a great way to start your day. Not only is it great physically, it is great mentally as well! You will find that not only are you feeling stronger, but that you are actually able to get more done in your days.
However, when you run in the mornings it is important to remember the easy tips that we included above and you are bound to find success in your morning runs!
Good luck!
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