Exercise Timing & Sleep: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] exercise timing, and how using exercise strategically can improve your sleep. I'm going to wait for a few of you to get on. Any questions, as always, are fair game. The article that we're going to be talking about today has some amazing images

[00:14] that I'm going to share with you on the screen here. And I think this is really important for any of you that suffer from sleep or sleep issues or if you are not getting the gains that you expected from exercise.

[00:27] And so we're going to really dive into this. So I think it's really important, exercise timing, being very intentional and specific. When you train, when you go to the gym, it turns out, as you can see from some of these images that we're going to dive into today,

[00:40] that your skeletal muscle is a feedback mechanism for your circadian clock system in much the same way that light is. So it's really important to be consistent and specific when it comes to exercise.

[00:53] And this can actually help you not only with fat loss and building muscle, but improving your sleep, which, as you know, reinforces both fat loss and muscle building. So, friends, if you're here right now and you're enjoying the content, hit that like button.

[01:05] I would love to know where you're from. We're going to dive into this. I have quite a few friends who are morning exercisers, and they noted that when they switch from afternoon or evening exercise

[01:19] to morning exercise, their sleep improved. And I just wanted to really dive into this on a scientific level, y'all. So, as I mentioned, questions, comments, they're fair game.

[01:32] I'm going to pop out the chat. We're starting a little bit later than we normally do. So, some of you all are not used to us, you know, talking at this time of the day. But let's get into it. So, the article that we're talking about here, let me just switch the screen here.

[01:48] We're diving into this one right here. I'm going to expand this so you can see this. Nice end. Okay, I'm going to zoom out just a little bit to clear this layer.

[02:02] Of course. Okay. So, let's get into it, shall we? We are talking about all things exercise and exercise timing and why consistency really, really matters when it comes to exercise

[02:17] and how you can improve your body composition, sleep, and hormones by exercising at more consistent times during the day. So it turns out that when you exercise in the morning, you improve your body's circadian clock system.

[02:31] And you actually advance the circadian clock system and make this more reliable or consistent. Now, why does this really matter? I know we've been talking about the circadian clock for a very long time.

[02:43] And I'll just share with you this image here that I was sharing on the screen. So the important thing about the circadian clock is the circadian clock covers everything, both from a top-down aspect. The suprachiasmatic nucleus within the hypothalamus of your brain is going to influence the circuiting clock within your gastrointestinal tract, within your hormones, within your fat cells, within your liver, and within your muscle cells.

[03:06] But the circuiting clock is also influenced by the bottom-up effects, such as sunlight, such as hormones, such as movement or exercise. So, if you're one of these folks that has been going to the gym and exercising pretty consistently and you're not experiencing the benefits that you might have wanted to see.

[03:27] Oh, there's a shirt. Can you show your shirt? Yeah. A friend of mine, he put on this conference here, Kenny Santucci. He's in New York City. It's called Strong New York. I spoke at it in 2024 in the fall, winter.

[03:39] All right, we're getting more folks on here. It's a little bit quiet there. So appreciate your likes, your comments, your shares, my friends. If you're enjoying this content, hit that like button. I would love to know where you're from. And to be honest, what time of the day do you exercise and what you've noticed from that?

[03:53] Because, like I said, I have several friends in their 50s and beyond who are, and both my parents, they're reliable morning exercisers. And when it's 8 o'clock, they're tired, they're wiped out, they're ready for bed, and their sleep is improved.

[04:06] And as you get older, this is what I want to share with you. I got sidetracked here. Here's the thing you need to understand about your body's circadian clock system. As you get older, there's a little bit of a muted effect on the circadian rhythm.

[04:20] And so we need to be really mindful about light exposure during the daytime and exogenous light exposures from screens and iPhones and televisions and iPads in the evening time because those are particularly disruptive for melatonin release in your sleep.

[04:35] But also we need to be consistent when it comes to exercise timing. And as you can see here, this article really goes into a nice narrative review highlighting how exercise consistency is an important regulator of your body's peripheral and central circadian clock system.

[04:54] So if you struggle with sleep, and I would like to know in the comments here. So we have T-Hut says he, I believe, works out in the morning and feel much better during the day. And that's what I've been doing, actually.

[05:06] My business partner works out in the morning, fasted. maybe a little bit of coffee with cream. And since working out with him more consistently, it's like my sleep has been so much better. I have a really good friend as well

[05:19] who's very in tune with his health and was seeing a sleep specialist and, you know, considering a CPAP machine and all the things. And he pivoted. I said, look, you know, you're exercising really late in the day.

[05:31] You know, and he came to this conclusion on his own as well. And I'm like, you know, I think you should, you know, maybe just try consistency in the morning and sure enough, his sleep is so much better now and he doesn't need to go to the sleep doctor or consider medication.

[05:44] So, really interesting stuff here. The hat was a little bit distracting. So this is fascinating stuff here my friend So I wanted to just really dive into this And the paradigm here what comes to circadian medicine is that consistency with time of day exercise

[06:04] improves metabolic health by modulating the skeletal muscle. And this paradigm is consistent with time of day exercise directly influencing the skeletal muscle clocks. And in turn, the Muscle clock modulates the genetic transcriptional control of various genes involved in metabolic health.

[06:22] And so I think that's the most important thing here because we know that metabolic health is a major challenge. About 93% of U.S. adults have some degree of poor metabolic health. And so if we can improve that by consistency with exercise, that's great.

[06:37] So for some of you, that exercise might be just gardening. That might be walking. That might be hiking. That might be going to the gym. That might be yoga, whatever. But just try to be consistent when you exercise.

[06:50] I was just out paddle boarding with a friend, so my hair is a little crazy. So we're going to throw the hat back on. Stone Manson says they do push-pull and an afternoon walk. So push-pull would be like a powerlifting-type split.

[07:04] So that's awesome there. Josh says, I used to always have to work out at night near 11 p.m. due to travel and work and started working out in the morning, which I never thought I could do,

[07:16] and it's been a game changer for my sleep. This is exactly what I was talking about, my friends. I can't tell you how many clients I've worked with over the past several years that have really poor sleep. And, you know, when we talk about,

[07:30] they don't even consider when they exercise or whatnot. So if you have someone you know that has sleep issues, get them doing morning exercise sessions, my friends. I know it's hard to get into the habit. You might be a little bit tired, might be a little bit fatigued early on, but over time, everyone that I've recommended this to invariably improves their sleep and their sleep quality.

[07:53] So, why might this be? Because of the fact that your skeletal muscle movement and exercise influences your body's circadian clock system from a bottom-up perspective.

[08:05] Remember, your body's suprachiasmatic nucleus is the master circadian oscillator in the body in your hypothalamus. So you have the top-down approaches like light exposure, darkness.

[08:17] They all influence your body's circadian clock and the time of the day. But moving your muscles and exercising, getting sunlight, have bottom-up approaches that affect the suprachiasmatic nucleus within the brain. And so it's really important to recognize that we can influence sleep when we exercise

[08:35] by being more intentional about when we actually sleep, when we exercise and when we sleep. So, for example, today I exercise during the day and I might go to the gym a little bit later on just to be consistent,

[08:48] but I'm not going to take any pre-workouts or stimulants or some such thing along those lines. And, okay, Mimi says, I've been working out in the night with my husband once the kids are asleep,

[09:03] but the morning workouts hit different for sure. So, Mimi, this is great. You know, you're working out with your partner. That's a great time to bond and do something together and hold each other accountable. So, this is not to say that if the only time in your life to exercise is in the evening time that, you know, you forgo that.

[09:23] But I do think it's important, particularly for people that have sleep issues. Sleep for the peripost-menopausal women crowd is really tough. So encouraging women to exercise in the morning, maybe have a little bit of caffeine beforehand.

[09:39] I don't know if you all know this. What's unique about caffeine is it helps to release stored fat from your fat cells, but it also helps to preserve skeletal muscles. So it's anti-catabolic in some regards.

[09:51] So having caffeine pre-workout is actually a great idea. So that's something to consider. So thank you for that, Mimi. Y'all are quiet on the chat. I asked you what time of day you exercise and where you're from,

[10:04] and we only have a few of you that have answered that. I want to acknowledge your presence during these live sessions. So, yeah, please. And any questions, metabolic health, blood work, they are all fair game.

[10:19] Okay. Going on to the article. So for those of you just now hopping on here, we've been talking about the importance of being consistent when you exercise as a tool to help improve overall metabolic health

[10:34] and also to help improve your sleep. So if you're suffering from sleep issues, please just try two things. Get plenty of daylight during the day, particularly in the morning hours, and try to exercise consistently at the same time every day.

[10:50] and then the third thing, the bonus, would be, of course, going to bed at the same time every day and waking up at the same time every day. So that's something that we should be focusing on and considering. We have pretty good evidence to suggest that consistency with exercise improves our muscle clocks,

[11:10] and so that's why we're diving into this paper right here titled, Time of Day Exercise. Oh, man, my cursor here. Time of day exercise influences the skeletal muscle clock.

[11:29] And there's some wonderful images here that I've been sharing with you about the different transcription factors and all of the different characterizations of how being consistent with exercise

[11:41] can actually improve your body's circadian clock and circadian rhythm, which of course is very beneficial for all sorts of different things the least of which is improved sleep and beyond So I just think this is awesome to consider

[12:01] You know, if you suffer from sleep issues, notice that your body can shift its circuiting rhythm by exercising earlier in the day. And so that's something that's really beneficial.

[12:16] But the most important thing, as this article talks about, is consistency with exercise. And I read you this new paradigm, this understanding that exercising consistently, whether it's in the morning, in the afternoon, at lunchtime, whatever,

[12:29] is going to help improve your body's circadian clock. And I'm going to open it up to some questions. We have a quiet group. We're starting a little bit later here.

[12:42] Mimi again says, I've been working out. Oh, shoot. Bill just has a little thumbs up. We have some folks here from New Zealand. Yeah, it's late. We normally don't do lives this late.

[12:56] So, I'm going to exercise this evening, although I should be exercising in the morning. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of share this with you all. I think this research is helpful.

[13:09] this is the graphical abstract here you have a comment here so like older people 64 feels like I don't want to work out every day sometimes I feel like I need to wait

[13:22] yeah so Bill recovery time is going to be a little bit different of course as you get older you have hormonal changes DHEA, growth hormone, androgens and so forth but Bill maybe you could do a weight lifting session on a Monday

[13:36] and then on a Tuesday go for a 30 or 40 minute walk lift Wednesday, go for a walk Thursday morning. Friday, do some lifting. No matter what your age is, it's still important to stress your skeletal muscle

[13:49] through consistent exercise and movement. So that's something to really consider. Eddie says, Roma, Texas here, 5 a.m. in a pre-workout cold punch. This is amazing.

[14:01] Eddie, you are a paragon of health. Continue what you're doing. That's phenomenal. Ying says, coffee with creatine, then workout in the morning eggs and some kind of red meat in the afternoon with whey isolate to supplement.

[14:13] So again, and to everyone listening, it's important to remember that you want to take creatine around exercise. Skeletal muscle improves the uptake of creatine within the muscle tissue, about 25% increase

[14:26] absorption. So some of the ways you can increase the absorption of creatine is by pairing those with electrolytes. And so for those of you that take creatine in the morning with coffee and you don't exercise, that's probably not a good idea. if you exercise at lunchtime or later in the day,

[14:40] you would want to take that creatine in a pre-workout or intra-workout. So that's something to consider, number one. But you also want to consider the source of creatine. That's why at MyoSense you're only getting 100% CreaPure.

[14:52] This is the only creatine monohydrate that is not made in China. Most of the creatine that you buy on the internet, most supplement companies are selling you creatine that's made in China. It's in pure. It's only in 84% material most times. You don't know what the other aspects of that material are.

[15:06] The CreaPure Creatine is the cleanest in the world, made in Germany. And you can save it with a code podcast over at myhawkscience.com. Super excited about this. For those of you that have been tuning into our channel for a while,

[15:18] we've offered this creatine now since 2021 in the creatine-containing electrolyte sticks. Now remember, electrolytes, sodium, potassium, magnesium chloride, etc., all help with the cellular uptake and utilization of creatine,

[15:33] both in the skeletal muscle and also in the brain. But it's important to acknowledge that exercised muscle increases the absorption of creatine as well. So you can take this as a standalone form, now available, 60 servings.

[15:46] It's available on Amazon, too. And it's also on our website. You can save with the podcast over at MyoScience. Or just click the link in the description below. But, again, put a bow on this conversation. If you suffer from sleep issues, anxiety, you lie down and your mind is racing,

[16:03] and you get up at 3 in the morning, you want to start exercising first thing in the morning and getting your eyes, your retina exposed to sunlight. Yeah, this is a great question. For those of you that can see the chat right now,

[16:16] New England Dirt Roadie says, what is creatine made of? So it's synthesized. It's synthetic. All creatine monohydrate is synthetic. Now, you do get creatine in an omnivore style diet.

[16:30] Shellfish, seafood, red meat are the best sources. Chicken and poultry are not a good source of creatine. And if you're a vegan or vegetarian, there's no creatine in your diet. So you absolutely must supplement.

[16:42] So that's a good question. What about adding glycerol? Glycerol is amazing as a pre-workout, as is cholesterol dextrin. So I'm a big fan of that. So yeah, I like that.

[16:56] These are awesome questions, y'all. I appreciate your questions. Is this content helpful? If it is, just hit that like button. That just lets me know that I should continue to do these lives. I appreciate you all being here.

[17:08] And, you know, honest question. Have you noticed when you exercise at a particular time of the day how that influences your body, your sleep, all of that? I would love, I would honestly love to know. I learned from all of you, just like hopefully you learned from me.

[17:24] But yeah, glycerol, I think, can be added to, for endurance athletic purposes. but remember when you're exercising particularly in a low or fasted state you're gonna be making a ton of glisswell okay so that's something to to

[17:42] consider there okay we have someone from Flagstaff this is Gary I went to NNU for three years I love Flagstaff My daughter and I were just in Flagstaff We hiked to Grand Canyon We did the Outer Mulan Rim Trail I believe

[17:58] and we hiked in Sedona. I love northern Arizona. Swamp Hawk is in the house. Just so you all know, Swamp Hawk has been a consistent viewer of this channel for like seven years. So I really like that.

[18:11] Swamp Hawk, thank you for being here. Yeah, what do I think about the sugar diet? You know, this protein-restricted diet, does it have applications?

[18:23] Possibly. Do I think most people are metabolically flexible enough to be mainlining large amounts of sugar? Most people probably not, okay? Let's be real, okay.

[18:35] But getting back to glycerol, remember, you know, if you're exercising and you're reasonably metabolically healthy, your body's going to be breaking down fats and making a lot of cholesterol.

[18:47] So do you need to supplement with cholesterol? Probably not. Okay. Okay. York PA says they're a new viewer and they're learning lots. Awesome. Tell your friends.

[18:59] Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for sharing these videos. We got folks from Tampa, Florida in the house. I will be at Tampa at Hatcher Health in November 2025. So I would love to meet you if you are going to go to that seminar.

[19:14] Okay. Do dentists like the sugar diet? Probably, yeah. I would imagine we would keep them in business. No, I mean, most dentists do not want you to have cavities or turning away customers. But, yeah, that's interesting, their sugar diet.

[19:31] But I think, in all fairness, people promoting the sugar diet are not suggesting you name-line sugar. they're mostly promoting fruit consumption as far as I recognize.

[19:44] Okay. United Carnival will be there. I look forward to meeting you. That's awesome that you're going to be there. Okay. Any other questions, y'all? What questions do you have about creatine? I just wanted to quickly highlight this again.

[19:58] Most creatine that you're buying is imported from China. It's manufactured in China. Not the cleanest stuff. We just launched this last week. This is a pre-pure creaking, the ultra-pure creaking by Manoscience, 100% German-made raw material.

[20:13] You can save it with a code podcast. This brings down the cost per 5-gram serving at about 39 cents, which is really, really affordable. So, yeah, we want to support supplement companies that are bringing in high-quality materials, not just stuff from China.

[20:27] Sadly, even some quote-unquote recordable companies are selling you creaking that has been made in China then it's not a highly purified raw material. So, yeah, but just to put a bow in the conversation here,

[20:40] for those of you just hopping on, we've been talking a lot about how exercise influences your body's circadian clock system and why that is important, particularly for optimizing sleep and metabolic health. And the more consistent you can be with exercise timing,

[20:53] the more consistent and restorative your sleep will be. So if you can just try to be reliable when you go to the gym or when you exercise, whether it's in the morning or afternoon, just be very consistent with that.

[21:05] And when you start to move from evening workouts to morning workouts, there's going to be a little bit of a lag, but it's really important that you be consistent with this because your skeletal muscle, moving your skeletal muscle,

[21:17] offers some very interesting bottom-up control to your body's circuiting clock system, which, as you know, your master circuiting clock oscillator is in your brain.

[21:29] It's known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and that, of course, is influenced by light and time of the day. But when you exercise, you offer a bottom-up approach. So it's not just about top-down, brain-down. It's about bottom-up.

[21:41] And so exercise can be helpful in that way. There's some comments here about glycerol as an intra-workout. Gets you crazy pumped. That's awesome. Okay.

[21:53] I want to encourage my wife to take creatine for mental clarity, but when I mentioned that some water retention and bleeding will happen, she's like, no. Well, let's be real here. Most of that water retention is, in my opinion, from impurities in the creatine and the dose.

[22:09] And we have had several customers who have used other people's creatine and noticed bloating, but not with this material. So you want to, it's very specific. The CREATURE material from Germany, highly purified, is not linked with bloating.

[22:25] I got some around my mind here. I was actually just out on the water. Okay. Jody is a longtime listener from Largo, Florida, but you're listening right now from Las Cruces, New Mexico,

[22:39] which is a beautiful city. Cool. Well, I think we should all support Ying in wanting to get his wife on creatine for mental clarity. That's awesome.

[22:51] Some really good benefits there for the brain and for female health as well. So congrats on that. And, friends, I appreciate you being here live on a Monday afternoon.

[23:04] Thank you for tuning in. Hopefully you had a great evening tuning in here and a good weekend. If you enjoyed the content, just hit that Like button. That just tells me that we should do this, and it helps the algorithm just a little bit. Small little free thing that you can do just to kind of help other people get access to this information.

[23:21] We'll catch you next week. I appreciate you again for being here. Hopefully you got some value from this paper. I think these images about exercise consistency and how exercise can influence the circadian clock is just incredibly fascinating.

[23:37] Okay, we will catch you on a future one down the road. Have a good night all. Bye.