The Role of Chronotype in Modulating Inflammatory and Appetite Responses to Morning and Afternoon Exercise in Healthy Adults

A single 30-minute exercise session can trigger different inflammatory and appetite responses depending on whether you are a morning person or an evening person, and what time of day you work out. This matters because current exercise guidelines treat everyone the same, ignoring the fact that people's internal body clocks vary widely. A "lark" who exercises in the afternoon may get a different metabolic and immune response than an "owl" doing the same workout. The study will measure inflammation markers and appetite hormones in healthy adults after morning versus afternoon exercise, then compare results across chronotypes. If the research succeeds, it could reshape how exercise is prescribed. Instead of generic advice to "exercise more," clinicians and public health campaigns might recommend specific workout times tailored to an individual's chronotype. This could improve outcomes for weight management, metabolic health, and chronic inflammation—conditions where timing of physical activity is currently an afterthought. The findings could also inform shift-work schedules or rehabilitation programmes, where aligning exercise timing with a person's natural rhythm might boost adherence and effectiveness.