Objective

We assessed the association between timing of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and glycemic measures.

Research design and methods

Regression models were used to assess associations between accelerometer-derived MVPA timing and incident T2D in UK Biobank (UKB) (n = 84,528, prospective), prevalent diabetes, and glycemic measures in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 6,998, cross-sectional).

Results

In UKB, with early morning (0500-0959) MVPA as reference and before adjustment for total MVPA, “variable-timing” MVPA was associated with the lowest incident T2D risk; while after adjustment, afternoon-evening MVPA (1500-2400) showed the lowest incident T2D risk. In NHANES, afternoon/early evening MVPA was weakly associated with more favorable glycemic measures and lower diabetes prevalence after adjustment for total MVPA.

Conclusions

When keeping total MVPA volume constant, clustering MVPA in the afternoon-evening was associated with the strongest reduction in incident T2D risk, fewer prevalent diabetes, and more favorable glycemic measures.

© 2026 by the American Diabetes Association.