What can I gain by exercising between 6 and 9am?
QI can’t drink and I can’t buy cigarettes — legally. Let’s say I decide to become healthy as a result. What, if anything, can I possibly gain by being forced to run between 6am and 9am?
A The early bird catches the worm. The proverb never mentioned anything about a virus and so we would love to argue that Covid-19 is still asleep during those hours and can’t spread. However, the smart money would be on it being easier to police. Arresting folk this way is like casting a net during the sardine run.
If you’ve seen the photos of the Sea Point promenade, the time regulations would appear to have the opposite effect of social distancing. However, there is no rule that says you have to run on the promenade, or any other spot, so state proclamations shouldn’t replace common sense. After all, there’s a difference between herd immunity and herd mentality.
Common sense doesn’t come naturally, though. Health minister Zweli Mkhize said: “Consistent with evidence worldwide, hypertension, diabetes and cardiac disease are the three most common comorbidities associated with serious illness from Covid-19.”
He went on to mention pulmonary disease, cancer, HIV and other comorbidities. We all know smoking kills — it causes a number of conditions on that list, such as hypertension, cardiac disease and cancer.
But in our fits of rage taking one side or another in this tobacco war, we don’t seem to notice that wine sections, and even cigarette counters, at big supermarkets have been filled with sugary drinks and sweets.
Society is still in denial about diabetes, which happens to be one of the most-cited comorbidities during this pandemic. If you don’t have it now, perhaps you could develop it in time for the next pandemic?
Common sense should always prevail, as should an uncompromising and agendafree commitment to public health. You don’t have to run in huge crowds, you don’t have to support the illegal cigarette trade and you don’t have to binge eat sugary snacks just because you’re in lockdown and wine is unavailable.
Which brings us to the second part of the question. Besides getting your grumpy behind out of the house and into the newly refreshed air, there are benefits to training early.
A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2019 found that morning exercise improves attention, visual learning and decision-making, especially if you’ve accumulated your fair share of life experience.
“A morning bout of moderate-intensity exercise improves serum BDNF [brainderived neurotrophic growth factor] and working memory or executive function in older adults, depending on whether subsequent sitting is also interrupted with intermittent light-intensity walking,” the authors conclude.
Some trainers swear by the fat-burning potential of earlymorning training sessions, especially before breakfast. Of course, if you feel as though you are about to faceplant into the tarmac, chances are you need nourishment. Listen to your body — if you are hungry, eat.
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In July 2019, the New York Times published an article headlined “Morning exercise may offer the most weight-loss benefits”, citing studies.
It said: “Those who usually worked out before noon lost more weight, on average, than the men and women who typically exercised after 3pm. The researchers uncovered a few other, possibly relevant, differences between the morning and late-day exercisers. The early-exercise group tended to be more active throughout the day, taking more steps in total than those who worked out later. They also ate a bit less, though the difference amounted to barely 100 calories per day on average.”
Early exercise sets the tone for the day. It gets the blood pumping, improves the mood and influences diet choices because you don’t want to “undo” all your hard work.
Stop whingeing and go for walk or run. If not for yourself, do it for your family.