Using wearable technology to optimise exercise timing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Using wearable technology to optimise timing of concomitant metformin and exercise prescription
IRAS ID
292015
Contact name
Brendan M. Gabriel
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
researchregistry6311, Research Registry
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Metformin is one of the primary front-line treatments of Type 2 Diabetes. Additionally, exercise is a crucial preventative and therapeutic lifestyle intervention in the management of Type 2 Diabetes. However, recent scientific evidence suggests that these 2 treatments (metformin and exercise) may interfere with each other in terms of the beneficial outcomes obtained from each treatment. Our previous research suggests that the time-of-day that people with Type 2 Diabetes perform exercise may change their blood sugar (an important component of Type 2 Diabetes treatment). In the aforementioned trial, morning exercise increased blood sugar compared with the participant’s normal blood sugar, while evening exercise reduced blood sugar compared with normal. Most of the subjects in this trial were taking metformin and it may be possible that this is partly behind the effect we observed. Given these findings, we think it may be possible to further improve the beneficial outcomes of exercise and metformin treatment in people with Type 2 Diabetes by optimising the timing of exercise. We aim to test this by using cutting-edge wearable technology to remotely monitor subjects in real-time who are taking metformin and who we will instruct to exercise at different times of the day.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0990
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jan 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion