Recruiting

Exercise Timing

Sponsor:

Freda Patterson

Code:

NCT07049783

Conditions

Young Adults

Hypertension

Post-Exercise Hypotension

Circadian Rhythm

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 39

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Exercise

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this study is to learn how exercise timing affects blood pressure in adults with elevated or high blood pressure. Exercise can influence the body's natural 24-hour rhythms, including blood pressure patterns. A single exercise session can lower blood pressure for up to 24 hours, but it is not fully understood how the time-of-day for exercise affects this response. The main question this study aims to answer is:

• When the same participant exercises at different times of day (morning, afternoon, or evening), how does this affect the participant's blood pressure over the next 24 hours?

Participants will:

  • Undergo an in-lab assessment of individual biological rhythm that will indicate the clock-time for an individual's biological night
  • Complete 3 supervised treadmill exercise sessions

  • 1 in the biological morning (biological night + 10 hours)
  • 1 in the biological afternoon (biological night + 15 hours)
  • 1 in the biological evening (biological night + 20 hours)
  • Complete a 24-hour blood pressure assessment before and after each exercise session

Conditions

Young Adults

Hypertension

Post-Exercise Hypotension

Circadian Rhythm

Study ID

NCT07049783

Start date

Jul 22, 2025

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 39

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18-39 Years old
  • Resting blood pressure greater than or equal to 120/80 mmHg or less than 140/90 mmHg

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis or history of chronic or autoimmune disease (i.e., cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, endocrine, cancer)
  • Diagnosis or history of sleep disorder (i.e., obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, restless leg syndrome)
  • Alcohol or drug dependence
  • Elevated risk for sleep disorders
  • Elevated risk for clinical depression
  • Normotensive (blood pressure less than 120/80 mmHg) or stage 2+ hypertension (blood pressure greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg)
  • Body mass index less than 18.5 or greater than 35 kg/m2
  • Self-reported use of sleep medications/supplements (e.g., melatonin)
  • Self-reported use of medications influencing vascular physiology (e.g., antihypertensive medications, weight loss medications)
  • Highly physically active (greater than or equal to 300 minutes moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week)
  • Currently pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Current tobacco use (greater than or equal to 1 cigarette in the past month)
  • Nighttime or rotating shift work within the last 3 months
  • Contraindications to aerobic exercise

Study Design

Enrollment

30 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Morning

Exercise 10 hours after dim-light melatonin onset

experimental: Afternoon

Exercise 15 hours after dim-light melatonin onset

experimental: Evening

Exercise 20 hours after dim-light melatonin onset

Interventions

Exercise

A single standardized, in-lab, 30-minute monitored treadmill exercise session

Primary outcome measure

  • Average daytime systolic blood pressure [ Time Frame: 24-hours ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Freda Patterson, PhD

302-831-6588fredap@udel.edu

Thomas Keiser

302-831-6588tkeiser@udel.edu

Locations

University of Delaware

Recruiting

Newark, Delaware, United States, 19713

Contacts

Thomas Keiser

302-831-6588tkeiser@udel.edu

Principal Investigator:

Freda Patterson, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Freda Patterson

Last update posted

Aug 17, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

  • Young adults
  • Hypertension
  • Post-exercise hypotension
  • Circadian rhythm

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Freda Patterson on 2025-08-17. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.