Exercise, Chronotype, and Prediabetes

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Prediabetes, Overweight , Obesity

In brief

The goal of this clinical trial is to find out whether exercising at the right time of day, based on a person's natural body clock, leads to greater health benefits in people living with prediabetes. The main question it aims to answer is whether doing a single session of exercise in the morning or in the evening affects how the body handles sugar differently in adults with prediabetes who have an extreme natural body clock. This will be done by comparing three conditions (no-exercise, morning exercise, and evening exercise) within the same participant. Each condition will be tested on a different day, with at least 14 days between the test days. During the no-exercise test days, participants will come to the study centre and will only be allowed to do sedentary activities (e.g. office work, reading, or screen time). During the morning exercise test days, participants will perform an exercise session at 9:00 am that involves short periods of very hard effort followed by short rest periods. Whereas for the evening exercise test days, the same type of exercise will be performed at 5:00 pm.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07389005

Run by

German Diabetes Center

People needed

28

Starts

2026-02-01

Expected to finish

2028-08-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-02-05

Who can join

Age: 19 and older, up to 75. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Able to provide signed and dated written informed consent prior to any study specific procedures
• Adult men and women aged between more than 18 and ≤ 75 years
• Body mass index (BMI) of 25 - 35 kg/m2
• Stable weight (no weight loss or gain > 3 kg in the past 3 months)
• Pre-diabetes defined as an isolated impaired glucose tolerance or a combination of impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glucose (values are based on the American Diabetes Association (ADA):
• impaired glucose tolerance (plasma glucose 140 mg/dL to 199 mg/dL, 120 minutes after consumption of 75g of glucose)
• impaired fasting glucose (fasting plasma glucose 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dL)
• Morning (Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire [MEQ] score ≥ 59) or evening (MEQ score ≤ 41) chronotype

You may not qualify if…

• Previously diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
• Moderate to severe anemia (hemoglobin < 10 g/L)
• Uncontrolled hypertension
• Abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) at rest judged by the study physician
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding
• HIV, hepatitis B, or C infection
• Disorders of blood clotting or wound healing
• Positive history of venous thrombosis (contraindication for clamp)
• Hypersensitivity to local anesthetics (contraindication for fat/muscle biopsies)
• Night shift work in the last 3 months
• Travel across > 1 time zone in the last 3 months
• Participation in another clinical trials that may possibly hamper the study results
• Engagement in structured exercise activities > 2 hours a week
• Any acute condition, exacerbation of chronic condition, or medical history that in the investigator's opinion would interfere with the study
• Any contraindication for MRI scanning
• Medication use known to hamper safety during the study procedures
• Non-German speaking

Where it is running

• German Diabetes Center (DDZ) — Düsseldorf, Germany

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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