"Circadian rhythms, health and disease". Under this title, the Department of Sport and Health Sciences will host a symposium on Friday, January 27, 2023. The guest speaker is Prof. Dr. Juleen Zierath from the Karolinska Institutet and the University of Copenhagen. She will speak on the topic "Is it better to Exercise in the Morning or Evening?".
Juleen Zierath is Professor of Clinical Integrative Physiology and Head of Integrative Physiology in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska lnstitutet in Stockholm. She also works as director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen and is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly. From 2013 to 2015, she was Chair of the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institutet and is currently an adjunct member of that committee.
Circadian rhythms are not necessarily found in everyday language. In simplified terms, they describe daily rhythms that are dependent on the internal clock. Accordingly, they represent physiological processes that, among other things, can influence performance in sports and training.
In her lecture, Prof. Zierath will talk about these circadian rhythms and the data available: "Physical exercise has both individual and synergistic effects on metabolism, including alterations in glucose homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, the timing of an exercise bout can fine-tune metabolic health. Therefore, there is a burgeoning appreciation of circadian rhythmicity in peripheral tissues such as skeletal muscle, liver and adipose tissue, as well as the role of exercise and nutrition to act as zeitgebers of circadian rhythmicity. The precise interactions between endogenous rhythms, external zeitgebers and their health promoting effects on metabolism remains to be fully elucidated. In this lecture, I will present data suggesting the some of the benefits from exercise may depend on timing."
Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan, Head of the Assistant Professorship of Chronobiology & Health, sees exciting points of connection for Technical University Munich and the Department in Prof. Zierath's exchange and lecture: "Prof. Zierath has written important work in the field of circadian preferences and chronotypes on molecular mechanisms that explain what happens at the level of metabolism in human muscle. We can make a connection between biomedical aspects and what it means for our health as well as sport science by visiting them."
Especially in recent years, the understanding of the "internal clock" has grown significantly. In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to three US scientists for their research on how the internal clock works. "Important insights can be derived from such research, for example, at what times we should perform exercise sessions. This is of great importance for everyday training - both in elite and popular sports," explains the health scientist.
Prof. Spitschan founded the "Munich Sleep and Circadian Network" to further deepen these links and to advance Munich in the field of chronobiology. Here, competences from the field of chronobiology are to be bundled and advanced in the Munich research landscape.
The event will take place on Friday, 27 January 2023, from 2 - 4 PM at the BayWa Lecture Hall 1 at the new TUM Campus in the Olympic Park. Admission is free, pre-registration is not necessary.
To the homepage of the Assistant Professorship of Chronobiology & Health
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan
Assistant Professorship of Chronobiology & Health
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 München
phone.: 089 289 24544
e-mail: manuel.spitschan(at)tum.de
Text: Bastian Daneyko
Photos: Prof. Dr. Juleen Zierath/private