For example, you combine sprints as a power interval with longer phases of walking. HIIT is one of the most popular fitness methods and is considered particularly effective.
30 minutes of HIIT: This is how many calories the body burns
Already in a 30-minute session, the body burns on average 220 calories. In addition, the metabolism is properly heated – so you can lose excess pounds in record time.
However, the exhausting workout is not suitable for every time of the day, as a study by the Technical University (ETH) in Zurich shows.
Better not: HIIT training in the evening can disturb sleep
The researchers were able to prove with their study that intensive interval training with a short time interval before bedtime disturbs bed rest.
Subjects who performed a HIIT workout one hour before their usual bedtime took an average of 14 minutes longer to fall asleep than participants who had a moderate or relaxed workout behind them.
How can the result be explained? Normally, our parasympathetic nervous system works at full speed when we go to bed. This means that the body switches to the resting state and recovers.
The heart rate then drops, the blood vessels expand, the digestion gets going again and the breathing slows down. However, the study showed that the heart rate remains elevated for about an hour after intense training. This makes it difficult for the body to switch off.
Workout in the evening? You should pay attention to that
Based on her findings, the study director Christina Spengler and her team recommend that a HIIT training not be put on late in the evening. According to the experts, there should be at least two hours between bedtime and the workout.
If you do not want to do without interval training, you should (e.g. with an activity tracker) make sure that the heart rate is not higher than 76 percent of the maximum value.