Best Time of Day for Strength and Endurance Training to Improve Health and Performance? A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis
- PMID: 37208462
- PMCID: PMC10198889
- DOI: 10.1186/s40798-023-00577-5
Best Time of Day for Strength and Endurance Training to Improve Health and Performance? A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis
Abstract
Background: Current recommendations for physical exercise include information about the frequency, intensity, type, and duration of exercise. However, to date, there are no recommendations on what time of day one should exercise. The aim was to perform a systematic review with meta-analysis to investigate if the time of day of exercise training in intervention studies influences the degree of improvements in physical performance or health-related outcomes.
Methods: The databases EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and SPORTDiscus were searched from inception to January 2023. Eligibility criteria were that the studies conducted structured endurance and/or strength training with a minimum of two exercise sessions per week for at least 2 weeks and compared exercise training between at least two different times of the day using a randomized crossover or parallel group design.
Results: From 14,125 screened articles, 26 articles were included in the systematic review of which seven were also included in the meta-analyses. Both the qualitative synthesis and the quantitative synthesis (i.e., meta-analysis) provide little evidence for or against the hypothesis that training at a specific time of day leads to more improvements in performance-related or health-related outcomes compared to other times. There was some evidence that there is a benefit when training and testing occur at the same time of day, mainly for performance-related outcomes. Overall, the risk of bias in most studies was high.
Conclusions: The current state of research provides evidence neither for nor against a specific time of the day being more beneficial, but provides evidence for larger effects when there is congruency between training and testing times. This review provides recommendations to improve the design and execution of future studies on this topic.
Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42021246468).
Keywords: Cardiovascular; Chronotype; Circadian; Diurnal; Endurance; Meta-analysis; Metabolic; Performance; Strength; Systematic review.
© 2023. The Author(s).
Conflict of interest statement
FAJLS served on the Board of Directors for the Sleep Research Society and has received consulting fees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Morehouse School of Medicine. FAJLS's interests were reviewed and managed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. FAJLS's consultancies are not related to the current work. FB, RK, RR, JQ and WW have no competing interest to declare.
Figures
Similar articles
-
Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Feb 1;2(2022):CD014217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014217. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022. PMID: 36321557 Free PMC article.
-
Interventions for promoting habitual exercise in people living with and beyond cancer.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Sep 19;9(9):CD010192. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010192.pub3. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018. PMID: 30229557 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Interventions for promoting habitual exercise in people living with and beyond cancer.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Sep 24;(9):CD010192. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010192.pub2. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013. Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Sep 19;9:CD010192. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD010192.pub3. PMID: 24065550 Updated. Review.
-
The future of Cochrane Neonatal.Early Hum Dev. 2020 Nov;150:105191. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105191. Epub 2020 Sep 12. Early Hum Dev. 2020. PMID: 33036834
-
Effects and Dose-Response Relationship of Balance Training on Balance Performance in Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports Med. 2018 Sep;48(9):2067-2089. doi: 10.1007/s40279-018-0926-0. Sports Med. 2018. PMID: 29736728
Cited by
-
Effect of circadian rhythm and menstrual cycle on physical performance in women: a systematic review.Front Physiol. 2024 Apr 24;15:1347036. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1347036. eCollection 2024. Front Physiol. 2024. PMID: 38720785 Free PMC article.
-
Alterations in Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Physical Activity in COVID-19: Mechanisms, Interventions, and Lessons for the Future.Mol Neurobiol. 2024 May 3. doi: 10.1007/s12035-024-04178-5. Online ahead of print. Mol Neurobiol. 2024. PMID: 38702566 Review.
-
Effects of exercise on circadian rhythms in humans.Front Pharmacol. 2023 Oct 11;14:1282357. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1282357. eCollection 2023. Front Pharmacol. 2023. PMID: 37886134 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Response to Comment on: "Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness Post-COVID-19: A Narrative Review".Sports Med. 2023 Dec;53(12):2531-2532. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01922-0. Epub 2023 Sep 8. Sports Med. 2023. PMID: 37682410 Review. No abstract available.
References
Publication types
Grants and funding
- P2BSP3_191755/Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- PZ00P3_208999/Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- PZ00P3_208999/Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- K99HL148500/Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
- R01DK102696/Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources