There has always been a debate about the pros and cons of being an early riser versus being a night owl. Much to the disappointment of people who love going to bed late, as per a report by Inverse, a recent study by Rutgers University has demonstrated that being an early riser has a positive impact on the body’s metabolism.
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The study, published in Experimental Physiology, focused on 51 adults who all suffer from insulin resistance syndrome, which is a metabolic syndrome that comes with conditions that raise the risk of stroke, diabetes, heart disease etc.
Early-risers versus late-risers
The study divided the participants into two ‘chronotypes,’ which according to the paper, is a classification that identifies an individual’s preference to perform an activity or acknowledge alertness at different periods during the day. The two chronotypes are: early risers who tended to go to bed before 11 p.m., and night owls, who stayed up until at least 1 a.m.
Inverse quoted lead author Steven Malin, an endocrinology and metabolic health professor at Rutgers, as saying,
We wanted to see what’s going on with their metabolism, both during the rested or fasted state, in addition to during exercise or movement.
The principal finding became, ‘Wow, the later chronotype used less fat, regardless of the state,’ so they use less fat when they fasted, and they use less fat at moderate or high-intensity exercise.
This implies that early risers burnt more fat during both fasting and exercising i.e., early-risers have better metabolism compared to late-risers.
Advise for late-risers
While Malin does not prescribe every one of us to follow the same lifestyle and acknowledges that we all have different preferences, he advised more activity or movement for all of us in general.
He said that even going to bed 15 minutes earlier and waking up 15 minutes ahead, and jumpstarting the body’s metabolism by getting some movements in, such as laps or walking or jumping, can provide the body many health benefits.
Malin states,
The more movement we can have, the better our health.
We see the greatest drops in mortality risks, cardiovascular disease, and so forth, going from being very inactive to being active.
Read more:
Inverse: ‘ Going to bed before this time could boost your metabolic health’
Experimental Physiology: ‘ Early chronotype with metabolic syndrome favours resting and exercise fat oxidation in relation to insulin-stimulated non-oxidative glucose disposal’
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