The Best Time of Day to Exercise for Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes

Do you have clients with type 2 diabetes? Perhaps you should think carefully about when to schedule their strength training sessions, say researchers.

The purpose of their study was to determine whether pre- or post-dinner resistance exercise (RE) would more effectively reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals with type
2 diabetes. The researchers noted that this group tends to have “abnormally” elevated postprandial glucose and triacylglycerol (TAG) concentrations, which are known risk factors for CVD.

The research team recruited 13 obese patients with type 2 diabetes and assigned each person to one of three protocols:
no exercise (control group); a pre-dinner resistance exercise workout; or a resistance training workout 45 minutes after eating. Sessions consisted of exercises such as seated leg curls, seated calf raises and crunches. Blood samples were tested before and after the intervention.

So, which time is best for a resistance exercise workout?

It turns out that, while both the pre- and post-dinner sessions were beneficial, the latter proved superior at reducing CVD risk factors. The researchers found that TAG concentrations were reduced by about 92% in the post-dinner group, compared with the other groups. Postprandial glucose was reduced by 18% and 30% for the pre- and post-dinner groups, respectively. The pre-dinner group experienced a 35% reduction in insulin, compared with a 48% drop in the post-dinner group.

The authors concluded, “Given that pre-dinner RE only improves postprandial glucose concentrations, whereas post-dinner RE improves both postprandial glucose and TAG concentrations, post-dinner RE may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease more effectively.”

This study is published in the Journal of Applied Physiology (2014; doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00917.2014).