Among young adult dancers with late chronotypes who train in the morning, longer durations of moderate-intensity physical activity during training are associated with improved attentional performance on the Stroop task after training, with stronger associations observed in those engaging in higher levels of activity.

When a person moves at a moderate pace for a longer time in the morning, their brain gets more blood flow and a protein called BDNF, which helps brain cells connect better. This improves the brain's ability to focus and ignore distractions. If their body clock is naturally set to be active later at night, their brain is less alert in the morning, but the physical activity overrides this delay by boosting brain activity exactly when it's needed.