Curiosity Daily

A New Way to Build Habits (w/ Dr. BJ Fogg) and the Best Time of Day to Exercise

Episode Summary

Stanford behavior scientist Dr. BJ Fogg explains new research into how you can pick new habits you’ll actually stick with. Then, you’ll learn about the best time of day to exercise.

Episode Notes

Stanford behavior scientist Dr. BJ Fogg explains new research into how you can pick new habits you’ll actually stick with. Then, you’ll learn about the best time of day to exercise.

More from Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford behavior scientist:

Pick up “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything” on Amazon https://amazon.com
Official website https://www.bjfogg.com/
Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University https://habits.stanford.edu/
Follow @bjfogg on Twitter https://twitter.com/bjfogg
Hear us discuss the Fogg Method on a previous episode of Curiosity Daily: https://curiositydaily.com/is-bee-venom-therapy-safe-plus-teeth-cleaning-history-and-how-to-change-bad-habits/

When's the Best Time of Day to Exercise? by Ashley Hamer

Borreli, L. (2015, September 10). This Is The Best Time To Work Out, Based On Your Fitness Goals. Medical Daily. https://www.medicaldaily.com/time-day-and-fitness-goals-why-working-out-morning-best-stress-not-muscle-size-351936
Van Proeyen, K., Szlufcik, K., Nielens, H., Pelgrim, K., Deldicque, L., Hesselink, M., Van Veldhoven, P. P., & Hespel, P. (2010). Training in the fasted state improves glucose tolerance during fat-rich diet. The Journal of Physiology, 588(21), 4289–4302. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2010.196493
Schoenfeld, B. J., Aragon, A. A., Wilborn, C. D., Krieger, J. W., & Sonmez, G. T. (2014). Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7
Myllymäki, T., Kyröläinen, H., Savolainen, K., Hokka, L., Jakonen, R., Juuti, T., Martinmäki, K., Kaartinen, J., Kinnunen, M.-L., & Rusko, H. (2011). Effects of vigorous late-night exercise on sleep quality and cardiac autonomic activity. Journal of Sleep Research, 20(1pt2), 146–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2010.00874.x
Morgan, C. (2020, April 11). When’s the Best Time to Work Out? Greatist; Greatist. https://greatist.com/fitness/whats-best-time-work-out
Hayes, L. D., Bickerstaff, G. F., & Baker, J. S. (2010). Interactions of cortisol, testosterone, and resistance training: influence of circadian rhythms. Chronobiology International, 27(4), 675–705. https://doi.org/10.3109/07420521003778773
Fries, E., Dettenborn, L., & Kirschbaum, C. (2009). The cortisol awakening response (CAR): Facts and future directions. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72(1), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.03.014
Lericollais, R., Gauthier, A., Bessot, N., Sesboüé, B., & Davenne, D. (2009). Time-of-day effects on fatigue during a sustained anaerobic test in well-trained cyclists. Chronobiology International, 26(8), 1622–1635. https://doi.org/10.3109/07420520903534492

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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/a-new-way-to-build-habits-w-dr-bj-fogg-and-the-best-time-of-day-to-exercise

Episode Transcription

CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.

ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how to pick new habits that you’ll actually stick to, with help from Stanford behavior scientist Dr. BJ Fogg. Then, you’ll learn about the best time of day to exercise.

CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.

BJ Fogg 1 — How to choose habits you actually want to have [5:48] (2 segments) (Cody)

If you want to make big changes in your life, research says you should start small. And today we have a special guest to explain why. Dr. BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist who’s run a research lab at Stanford University for more than 20 years. We talked about his “Fogg Method” for changing behavior around this time last year on Curiosity Daily. And right when we entered 2020, he published his newest book “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything.” I have been reading and implementing lessons from the book and trust me: it’s good stuff. Dr. Fogg told us that he wrote the book to help people see that traditional ideas about how to form new habits are not only wrong and misleading: they can also set people up to fail. He says change isn’t really that hard, it’s just that we weren’t taught how to do it the right way. Like, relying on willpower alone? Not gonna help you form a new habit. Seriously! Here’s why sheer willpower won’t cut it, and what you SHOULD do instead.

[CLIP 5:48]

Now you know how to design new habits! If you wanna learn why those habits should be “tiny,” then tune in tomorrow for the second half of our conversation with Dr. BJ Fogg. And you can find a link in today’s show notes to pick up his book, “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything.”

When's the Best Time of Day to Exercise? (Ashley)

Thanks to the lockdown, some of us are home pretty much all day, every day. Which is freeing, in a way — we can choose to exercise virtually any time we want. But to get the biggest impact, when is the best time to exercise? Well, that all depends on your goals. Research shows both morning and evening workouts have their own benefits.

Morning may be best if your goal is to lose weight. Some people swear by "fasted training," where you exercise right after waking up and before eating breakfast. Cardio on a full stomach causes discomfort in some people, while others believe this helps burn more fat. But the science on that is mixed.

Morning may also be the best time for sticking to a workout routine. Last-minute obligations pop up more often in the evening, and a long day working can sap your willpower to exercise in the evening.

Also, many people believe that working out at night makes it harder to get to sleep. But science says there isn’t much truth in that. In reality, any exercise at any time of day will improve your sleep quality.

If you trust yourself to stay consistent, the evening has plenty of benefits too. Like, it’s great for harder workouts. Your core body temperature rises throughout the day, and since warmer muscles are more flexible, there’s less risk in the evening of injury from high-intensity exercise.

Guess what else is higher later in the day? Testosterone levels. That makes strength and resistance exercise better at that time, both for women and men. The stress hormone cortisol, which makes you store fat and reduce muscle, is highest in the morning and ramps down throughout the day. That could make evening exercise more effective. And one study also showed that 6 p.m. workouts were better than 6 a.m. workouts for boosting energy and focus.

In the end, though, the time of day that's best for exercise really comes down to you and your personal quirks. Is consistency your biggest pitfall? Getting enough sleep? Hurting yourself? Pick the time of day that makes it easiest to get your very best workout, and everything else will come a little easier.

RECAP

CODY: Lots of great lessons today, so let’s do a quick recap. Starting with

CODY: When you’re trying to form a new habit, don’t focus on abstractions. Be REALLY specific with what you want. [CODY anecdote: If you find yourself enjoying the OUTCOME of an activity, but you don’t enjoy the activity itself… then try a new activity]
ASHLEY: You need 3 things for a new habit to stick: It has to be effective, it has to be a behavior you WANT to do, and it needs to be a behavior you CAN do. Impact, wanting to do, and ability to do.
CODY: The best time to exercise depends on your goals; working out in the morning might be the best bet if you’re trying to lose weight, but if you’re into strength training, then you might want to wait to do it in the afternoon when your body temperature and testosterone levels are all jacked up.

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CODY: Today’s last story was written by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.

ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is produced and edited by Cody Gough.

CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.

ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!