There is growing evidence that the time of day we exercise makes a difference to our performance and health, but can we train our bodies to peak at different times of the day?

In a few months, the world's top athletes will gather in Paris to compete for the ultimate prize in sport – gold at the Olympic Games. For those hoping for a chance to enter the history books with a record-breaking performance, they might want to look at the hour on the clock before they settle into the starting blocks.

At least the swimmers might, according to one scientific study. Across four Olympic Games in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016), the swim times of 144 medal-winning swimmers were found to be the fastest if they were competing in the early evening. Specifically, around 5:12pm. It is part of a growing amount of evidence suggesting that physical performance is affected by the time-of-day.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The BBC.