Effects of Caffeine Ingestion on Morning Cognitive and 4-km Time Trial Performance in Males

Athletes often compete in the morning when they are biologically weaker; normally in competition heats or quarterfinals to qualify for the finals scheduled in the evening. Some athletes may even choose to perform at submaximal levels in these qualifying rounds, especially when they are expected to perform multiple times in the same day (such as weightlifting at the Olympic Games). Gross muscular performance such as power output or force production is greater in the evening than the morning (\~3-14% variation). Similarly, time-trial performance and repeated sprint performance (RSP; a good measure of performance in team sport) is \~3 and 5 % greater in the evening than the morning. The reason for this daily variation in performance is attributed to central factors (such as the body clock), as well as motivational and peripheral factors, including higher core and muscle temperatures in the evening compared to the morning. The body clock located within the anterior hypothalamus consists of a group of neurons known as suprachiasmatic nuclei, which are responsible for controlling the rhythm of core temperature. The most efficient nutritional ergogenic is caffeine. Recently caffeine has been investigated to reduce the negative influence of diurnal variations on repeated-sprint ability test (10 × 6 s cycle sprints, with 30 s of rest) at 60 min after ingestion of either 5 mg·kg-1 or placebo. Lopes-Silva et al. (2019) reported that caffeine supplementation did not prevent the reduction in performance in the morning. However, placebo effect can be 3-5% and hence the use of a No-pill condition would ensure that any placebo effect is accounted for and that the true potential effect of caffeine can be established. To the best of our knowledge, no study has yet investigated caffeine (CAFF), NoPill (NOPILL) or Placebo (PLAC) effects on cognitive and 4-km time-trial (TT) performance. As a diurnal variation in 4-km TT has been widely reported in a similar population. The aim of the present study is to investigate if ingesting caffeine on the day of the morning test, to improve performance.

NCT Number	NCT07469852
Lead Sponsor	Liverpool John Moores University
Conditions	Caffeine, Placebo - Control, No Pill
Enrollment	15 participants
Start Date	2026-01-12
Primary Completion	2026-03-25 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-03-25 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-03-13