• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Is there any logic to morning exercise resulting in more energy later in the day?

Replenished

Senior Member
Messages
247
This is completely anecdotal but I've had two days many months apart where I've forced myself to do some exercise in the morning and this has resulted in much more energy for that day.

When I say forced myself, let me be clear I'm not suggesting anyone with M.E. should force themselves to exercise when they are not up to it. The days where I have done the morning exercise have been days where I've been feeling 'ok'. Not well, but ok. I didn't have a lot of energy or feel like doing the exercise particularly and even during the exercise I can't say I felt great but after doing it, then recovering/resting for half an hour, my energy pool seemed to massively increase for the rest of the day.

The first occasion this scenario happened was, I went for a very very light jog, walking pace but jogging for about 20 minutes with some walking in between every few minutes of jogging. This was after breakfast. I then laid down at home for half an hour just resting. After 30 minutes or so my energy seemed to grow and I had a good day.

The second occasion was today, but this time I went for a bike ride, after breakfast, again very slow pace but enough to get the breathing and heart going, for about 20 minutes. Straight after the bike ride, I actually felt quite depleted and felt I was about to get some bad PEM. I was annoyed thinking how limited I still am. I went to lay down for half an hour in my annoyance, expecting I'd pushed myself too far and am going to feel like crap but after about 30 minutes, again my energy started to lift. I felt hungry, and wanted to do something active. I then did a workout with weights (I used to be really into bodybuilding/weightlifting before becoming unwell) and I found I had the most energy to lift weights that I've had in a long time. I then went shopping. It's hours on and I still feel I have energy spare to do more if needed but I'm not going to push anymore for today.

Sorry, I've made that a really long explanation for something quite basic but I wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar or if there is any logic as to why the morning exercise led to more energy throughout the day?

To me it felt like the light cardiovascular exercise in the morning, somehow fired up my system and got some oil/fuel in the engine per say. If I feel up to it I will try it again tomorrow and report back.
 

Judee

Psalm 46:1-3
Messages
4,461
Location
Great Lakes
I'm glad you got a boost. I probably wouldn't try it two days back to back. Maybe wait until day after tomorrow. Just my opinion though.

Not sure about the morning vs afternoon idea. Maybe it burned off extra cortisol?? My cortisol tends to be a bit high in the morning. (Not saying yours is.)

They also say there is something impaired with our glycolosis so maybe you affected something with that. ??

Edit: One more thought...maybe your heart rate tends to be lower in the mornings so exercising then is more within your AT (anaerobic threshold) zone.

This guy says exercising within his AT helped his ME improve: VIDEO
 
Last edited:

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,249
To me it felt like the light cardiovascular exercise in the morning, somehow fired up my system and got some oil/fuel in the engine per say. If I feel up to it I will try it again tomorrow and report back.

I agree with Judee: don't do back to back days initially.

Recently: I've told myself to move around a bit more after I get up...in my mind mostly this is a circulation issue. I"m not thinking cortisol.

Instead of getting up, and then within 10 minutes- Im sitting for an hour or two.

Not sure yet.....its a test.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
You're expecting logic with ME? :wide-eyed:

I think exercise has too many effects on the body to logically figure out why it's having that effect for you. Maybe with more experimentation and looking for other factors that affect it (diet, sleep length/quality, etc) you might have a chance of figuring it out.

I've been patching my driveway these last few mornings, digging and moving a dozen or more wheelbarrow loads of soil, and that hasn't had a noticeable effect on my ME symptoms, so it's not a general effect.

I think your goal should be to figure out how to maximize the benefit for you. If I could noticeable improve my days by exercising at 2 AM or whatever, I'd certainly try to maximize that and ensure its reliability.

Keep in mind that this could be one of those things that works the first few times, then stops working. That's just how ME is. :grumpy:
 

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,390
I read your post in the morning and despite feeling crap decided to give at a try. I walked around the property twice. I'm still in a little bit of a tachy crisis so not the best time to try but I'll keep you posted on the results.
Thanks for getting me up and out.
 

Replenished

Senior Member
Messages
247
I read your post in the morning and despite feeling crap decided to give at a try. I walked around the property twice. I'm still in a little bit of a tachy crisis so not the best time to try but I'll keep you posted on the results.
Thanks for getting me up and out.

How did it go? I hope you felt better or at least I hope it didn't make you feel worse. Although, I must reiterate, I did say I was feeling ok/having an ok day, rather than feeling crap and hence I felt stable enough to do a little exercise. I don't know if it would have the same positive effect if I already felt unwell.
 

Replenished

Senior Member
Messages
247
I went for another little walk/jog this morning for about 30 minutes. It certainly doesn't seem to be doing me any harm.

One of my main issues is dehydration/frequent urination and if I sedentary, especially if it's cold, this seems to be a lot worse. If it's hot weather or if I manage to get the body active/warmer through some activity it seems to fire my system up and reduce the dehydration/frequent urination. I think possibly it's metabolism linked, in that when I'm sedentary and cold my already tanked metabolism is very low. When it's hot and I'm active my metabolism is increased and symptoms reduced.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
Just a thought: are you sure that it's not being idle that makes your symptoms worse than baseline? I know that if I lay in bed too long, I'll feel worse that day.
 

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,390
How did it go? I hope you felt better or at least I hope it didn't make you feel worse. Although, I must reiterate, I did say I was feeling ok/having an ok day, rather than feeling crap and hence I felt stable enough to do a little exercise. I don't know if it would have the same positive effect if I already felt unwell.

Good!
It improved my overall mood and seemed to help with the tachycardia flare I've been in. I did the same thing the next two days as well. Last night I slept like a rock for the first time in a long time and felt pretty good this morning.