Episode 37 of the Performance Around the Clock comes from the XVIII Congress of the European Biological Rhythms Society in Lubeck, Germany. We welcome Professor Anna Krook, a Professor of Integrative Physiology at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and chair of the Strategic Research Programme in Diabetes at Karolinska Institutet. Professor Krook is an internationally recognized leader in metabolism, skeletal muscle and insulin biology.

In this episode, we discuss Professor Krook’s research journey, which began with her Ph.D. work on insulin and the insulin receptor gene, identifying rare mutations that cause severe inherited insulin resistance. She then focused on the dysregulation of insulin action seen in Type 2 diabetes, noting that muscle is the main site where insulin action goes wrong. The conversation dives into the fascinating role of the circadian clock in regulating insulin, glucose, and muscle. Dr. Krook explains that while healthy muscle mitochondria show a functional rhythm that peaks in the afternoon, this crucial rhythm is absent in muscle cells from people with Type 2 diabetes. We cover her landmark study showing that for type 2 diabetic men doing high-intensity interval training, exercise in the afternoon led to lower blood glucose control and a beneficial "legacy effect" the next day. In contrast, morning exercise resulted in higher blood glucose levels for that entire day and the next. This negative effect may be linked to higher inflammatory markers and stress markers circulating in the plasma after morning exercise. Please join us for an insightful conversation between Dr. Satchin Panda and Dr. Krook on optimizing exercise timing for metabolic health. If you enjoy this episode, please like, comment or follow. Thanks for listening.

Guest:

Dr. Anna Krook

Karolinska Institutet

Professor of Integrative Physiology

Chair of the Strategic Research Programme in Diabetes

Profile:

https://ki.se/en/people/anna-krook

Integrative Physiology group:

⁠https://ki.se/en/fyfa/integrative-physiology⁠

Paper highlight:

Afternoon exercise is more efficacious than morning exercise at improving blood glucose levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover trial

⁠https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30426166/⁠

Host:

Dr. Satchin Panda

X (Twitter): @SatchinPanda

https://x.com/SatchinPanda

Instagram: @satchin.panda

https://www.instagram.com/satchin.panda/

Links:

Donations: https://panda.salk.edu/giving/

Research: https://www.salk.edu/scientist/satchidananda-panda/

More science: ⁠https://mycircadianclock.org/