Does the Time-of-Day of Exercise Influence the Total Volume of Exercise? A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Objectively Monitored Physical Activity Among Active Individuals

Background: To improve compliance and adherence to exercise, the concept of temporal consistency has been proposed. Before- and after-work are periods when most working adults may reasonably incorporate exercise into their schedule. However, it is unknown if there is an association between the time-of-day that exercise is performed and overall physical activity levels. Methods: Activity was assessed over 1 week in a sample of 69 active adults (n = 41 females; mean age = 34.9 [12.3] y). At the end of the study, participants completed an interviewer-assisted questionnaire detailing their motivation to exercise and their exercise time-of-day preferences. Results: Participants were classified as temporally consistent (n = 37) or temporally inconsistent (n = 32) exercisers based on their accelerometry data. The temporally consistent group was further analyzed to compare exercise volume between morning-exercisers (n = 16) and evening-exercisers (n = 21). Morning-exercisers performed a greater volume of exercise than evening-exercisers (419 [178] vs 330 [233] min by self-report; 368 [224] vs 325 [156] min actigraph-derived moderate to vigorous physical activity, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that active individuals use a mixture of temporal patterns to meet PA guidelines. Time-of-day of exercise should be reported in intervention studies so the relationship between exercise time-of-day, exercise behavior, and associated outcomes can be better understood.

Automated summary

The study examined the activity levels of 69 active adults and found that morning exercisers had higher exercise volume compared to evening exercisers. The results suggest that active individuals utilize a variety of temporal patterns to meet physical activity guidelines.