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It is the perfect excuse to have a lie in. Research shows that first thing in the morning is not the best time to exercise. The British study found that  whether someone is a lark or an owl, their performance doesn’t peak until noon. In other words, rather than the alarm clock for 6 a.m. and dragging yourself out for a jog before work, sleep in and go for a run later in the day.

The University of Birmingham researchers put 20 professional athletes, including several England players, through a fitness test six times between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. They also asked the men and women to fill in a detailed questionnaire, designed to work out if they were larks, who thrive on early starts, night owls, who love sitting up to the wee small hours. 

They found that the larks did best on the test around noon. Night owls peaked just before 8 p.m. Timing was particularly important for night owls, who did 26 per cent worse if forced to exercise first  in the morning.

Birmingham University researcher Roland Brandstaetter said the results show the importance of listening to our body clock, rather than the clock on the wall. He said: “The body clock has such a big effect because every cell in the body has a clock. There are clocks in the brain and also in the organs, in the heart, in the liver, everything, and your physiology is controlled by these clocks.” He added that larks are energetic within about half an hour of getting up, however, it might be five or six hours before a night owl stops feeling sleepy.

The results are related to athletes, where even a one- per-cent difference in performance can make the difference between winning gold and being loser. Football manager, Dr Brandstaetter, said they might get better results if they fielded night owls for Champions League matches which can start as late as 9 p.m.

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