Most people know being active is good for them in multiple facets (heart, blood sugar control, weight, mood, and on and on). But a question I get asked a lot is “When should I be active?”
My response is….
If you are on a tight timeframe, work it in when you can. Ideally, if you can move your body at the beginning of the day before “life happens” you’ll be more consistent with getting activity in. For instance, I have two young children, so I wake up 45 minutes to 1 hour before the rest of the family. Otherwise, it’s very difficult for me to get planned exercise in my day. When I’d try to work out when the kids went to bed at night, I was often too tired. In the afternoons, we were too busy with dinner, sports, and school stuff. We all have excuses of how life gets in the way of exercise, but that’s when we have to get creative and prioritize health over everything else. Even if that means waking up a tad earlier than you normally would. I’m not going to lie, the first month or so it was ROUGH. And I notice that if I go on vacation or take a break sometimes, it’s hard to get back into that routine. I do have to keep telling myself this is for me and I have to prioritize my health or I can’t be there for my family.
If you have more flexibility in your schedule, you may consider activity right after eating a meal or snack. That way you can help use up the glucose from you food to fuel your muscles for that activity, rather than having your blood sugars rise higher if you are not fueling your muscles. Some people will go on a walk after supper or on their lunch break. I have some clients that will eat and then hop on their treadmill or elliptical for 10-15 minutes after each meal.
So the final answer to the question about when’s the best time to exercise is…
Be active when you can, as much as you can. Your muscles do not work for free and they will lower your blood sugar every time. You can start small with committing to 10 minutes a day and work your way up. It’s vital that you pick something you enjoy doing so that it’s easier to stick to. Some ideas are walking, biking, using cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical, etc.), doing aerobic classes (there’s plenty options online for free) or doing you sport of choice.
