image credit: myfooddiary.com "Two papers appearing April 18 in the journal Cell Metabolism confirm that the circadian clock is an important factor in how the body responds to physical exertion. The studies focused on different components of exercise, thereby complementing each other. Based on this work alone, it's too early to say when the best time is for you to go for a jog. But at least in the lab, exercise in the evening seems to be more productive, although human lifestyles are much more complicated and so this area of research is only just beginning. "It's quite well known that almost every aspect of our physiology and metabolism is dictated by the circadian clock," says Gad Asher of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who is senior author of one of the studies. "This is true not only in humans but in every organism that is sensitive to light. We decided to ask whether there is a connection between the t...