We're investigating the smallest amount of high-intensity exercise needed to trigger the release of “exerkines”, health-boosting molecules released during exercise, and whether this differs between men and women.
Interested in becoming a participant?
Register Your InterestSee if you might be eligible before you register. We'll confirm everything properly at a screening visit.
Not sure if you qualify? Register your interest anyway. We're happy to check with you directly.
A screening visit, then a small number of supervised exercise sessions.
5 visits total for males, 6 for females, each spaced at least 2 days apart.
Read the full details before you register, or take a look afterwards.
Full details on the study, what taking part involves, and your rights as a participant.
Download PDF →The form you'll complete if you decide to take part, so you know what to expect in advance.
Download PDF →Registering your interest only takes a minute, and doesn't commit you to anything.
Register Your InterestHow a single bout of exercise sends signals all around the body.
Figure adapted from Zhou N, Gong L, Zhang E, Wang X. (2024). Exploring exercise-driven exerkines: unraveling the regulation of metabolism and inflammation. PeerJ, 12:e17267. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17267
When you exercise, your body releases chemical messengers into your bloodstream called “exerkines.” These molecules are thought to be responsible for many of the health benefits of exercise, such as reduced inflammation, improved brain health, and better blood sugar control. However, we still don't know very much about how different types of exercise affect their release.
This study aims to find out which types of high-intensity exercise produce the strongest exerkine response. Participants complete one screening day and several different running sessions on a treadmill: one involving repeated intervals, and others involving continuous running at different speeds until they can't continue. We collect blood and other body fluid samples before, during, and after each session to track how exerkine levels change over time.
We also want to understand whether men and women respond differently to exercise, and whether a woman's menstrual cycle phase influences the exerkine response. Most exercise science research to date has been conducted predominantly in men, so this study specifically recruits equal numbers of male and female participants to properly compare how biological sex influences the body's response to exercise.
This study is part of a wider effort to advance female-specific exercise research. We're not only interested in whether men and women perform differently in a single session – we want to know whether their bodies adapt differently to repeated exercise over time. That distinction matters: it's the difference between a snapshot and the bigger picture, and it's the bigger picture that should shape how exercise guidance is tailored for women.
To make sure our findings are trustworthy, we verify each woman's menstrual cycle phase using a three-step, gold-standard process: a calendar recall of recent cycles, a home luteinising hormone (ovulation) test strip to help pinpoint ovulation, and a blood sample to directly confirm progesterone levels. Cross-checking these three sources means we can be confident about which phase of the cycle you're in at each visit, rather than relying on calendar dates alone.
Rather than asking how much exercise produces the biggest benefit, MIN-EX asks a more practical question: what's the smallest, most time-efficient dose of exercise that still triggers a meaningful exerkine response? Answering this could help shape future exercise guidelines that are realistic for people to actually follow, for both men and women.
We're also exploring whether exerkines can be detected in saliva, urine, and fluid just beneath the skin, which could one day reduce the need for blood tests, and using advanced molecular profiling techniques to search for previously unknown exerkines that may play important roles in how exercise improves health.
Alongside contributing to research, you'll come away with a genuinely useful picture of your own fitness and health:
At the end of the study, you can also request a summary of your own personal molecular response to exercise – some of the same exerkine data we're analysing, specific to you.
More broadly, you'll be contributing directly to women's health research and the development of precision exercise medicine: exercise guidance tailored to the individual, rather than one-size-fits-all recommendations.
Three simple steps, and you're free to change your mind at any point along the way.
Takes about 30 seconds: just pop in your name and email using the form.
You'll receive the consent form and screening questionnaire by email, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions or withdraw at any stage.
Using a booking calendar, we'll find visit times that fit around your schedule.
Get in touch with any questions, before, during, or after taking part.
Practical answers for anyone enrolled, or thinking about enrolling.
Sport Central, Northumbria University City Campus. For your first visit, come to the main reception of Sport Central and a researcher will meet you there at your booked time and bring you up to the right room. For later visits, you can head straight there unless a researcher tells you otherwise.
The screening visit takes approximately 2 hours. Exercise visits take approximately 4 hours in total, though the exercise itself is much shorter: continuous runs last roughly 2, 6, or 15 minutes depending on the speed, and the interval session is four 4-minute hard efforts with 3-minute recovery jogs in between (about 28 minutes).
Eat normally, aiming for your last meal between 18:00 and 20:00 the evening before, and try to eat similarly to how you ate before your very first visit, especially your final meal. Avoid structured exercise for at least 48 hours, alcohol for at least 24 hours, and caffeine for at least 12 hours. You'll also start a 24-hour food log the day before each visit (see below).
Arrive fasted (more than 10 hours overnight, though water is fine) and well hydrated. Wear comfortable clothing and footwear suitable for treadmill exercise, and bring a warm layer to wear over it.
Runners (trainers); lightweight sportswear that doesn't cover, or can be pulled up to reveal, your elbow and lower arm, for blood sampling access; a hoodie or sweater to wear over your sportswear; and a water bottle, if you'd like one.
A small red spot or light bruising at the site is normal and not worrying. Contact the research team if swelling or pain sharply increases, you notice numbness, tingling, or discoloration (e.g. your hand turns pale or blue), or you see signs of infection such as pus, increasing redness, or warmth to the touch. In the rare event your symptoms don't settle, please also contact your GP.
You'll log in with details the research team gives you, starting at breakfast the day before your visit and finishing that evening. There's no need to track outside this 24-hour window. Log everything you eat and drink except water, plus any supplements, weighing food where you can. Eating out or unsure how to log something? Estimate or take a photo and show a researcher at your next visit. Aim to eat what you'd normally eat, especially matching your final meal the night before testing, and let the team know in confidence about any relevant medications.
This begins the morning after your last testing day. Eat and move as you normally would, wearing the Axivity monitor at all times except when swimming or submerged in water for more than about an hour. The 7 days ends after your last meal on day 7, at which point you take the monitor off. You can return it in the postal envelope provided, or drop it back to Northumbria University.
Yes. You are free to withdraw from the study at any time, without having to give a reason, and without any effect on your care or standing. If you decide to take part and later withdraw, you'll still receive the thank-you payment for each visit you've already completed.
If you're female, we'll ask you to track your menstrual cycle so we can time some of your testing around it. After you sign up, start counting days from the first day of your last period. You'll also use LH (ovulation) test strips: these help us aim to schedule four tests within the early-follicular phase across two menstrual cycles (two tests per cycle, depending on your availability), plus one test targeting a roughly 72-hour window in the mid-luteal phase. This helps us book your extra female-only visit at the right point in your cycle.
Peter Higgins, PhD Candidate and Primary Contact, is happy to help with anything. Reach him at peter.r.higgins@northumbria.ac.uk.
Everything you need to know about the study, in writing.
Full details on the study purpose, what taking part involves, possible risks and benefits, and your rights as a participant.
Download PDF →The screening questions and consent form you'll complete if you decide to take part.
Download PDF →Questions about anything in these documents? Contact Peter Higgins, our primary contact for the study.
School of Sport,