A recent study published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), highlights the relationship between the timing of physical activity and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes where the authors noted that morning and afternoon physical activities were linked to a lower risk of developing the condition The researchers from Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, along with their colleagues, investigated how morning, afternoon, and evening physical activity influences diabetes risk.
Physical activity has long been recognized as a preventive factor for type 2 diabetes, but the timing and consistency of this activity have been less explored. The study, which analyzed a cohort of 93,095 UK Biobank participants without a history of type 2 diabetes, aimed to shed light on these aspects.
Participants wore wrist-worn accelerometers for one week, allowing researchers to objectively measure their physical activity throughout the day. The authors divided the day into three segments: morning (06:00–12:00 hours), afternoon (12:00–18:00 hours), and evening (18:00–24:00 hours). They also assessed the consistency of physical activity by analyzing deviations from each person's personal average.
The findings revealed a notable association between the timing of physical activity and type 2 diabetes risk. Specifically, morning and afternoon physical activities were linked to a lower risk of developing the condition. For each 1-unit increase in metabolic equivalent of task (MET), there was a 10% and 9% reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes for morning and afternoon activities, respectively. These associations followed a linear pattern, indicating that individuals with higher MET-hours had a substantially lower risk.
Notably, evening physical activity did not show a statistically significant association with type 2 diabetes risk.
Reference: Diabetologia (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-023-06001-7)
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