Examining sleep extension as a feasible strategy for improving cardiometabolic health in emerging adults with habitual short sleep

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a two-week sleep extension intervention (increasing time in bed for 1 hour/night) to improve metrics of cardiometabolic health in emerging adults. In Aim 1 we sought to determine whether sleep extension (habitual/extension) in emerging adults who self-reported sleeping <7 hours/night improves in-laboratory resting brachial and central blood pressure and peripheral vascular function compared to a control group (habitual/habitual).We had 32 emerging adults complete a two-week sleep extension protocol where they increased time in bed by 1 hour/night. In Aim 2 the purpose was to determine whether sleep extension (habitual/extension) in emerging adults who self-reported sleeping <7 hours/night could lead to improvements in health behaviors such as hydration, appetite regulation and metabolic health assessed via 24-hour urine collection, an ad libitum breakfast, and a fasting blood draw compared to a control group (habitual/habitual). Individuals in the intervention (sleep extension) group showed an increase in sleep duration by 29.5 minutes and self-reported better sleep quality. In our cohort of emerging adults, we did not find the sleep extension intervention to influence any of the measures of blood pressure or vascular function. Furthermore, we found that sleep extension did not improve several of the health behaviors. In the present study we highlight that sleep extension is feasible in emerging adults, however, the efficacy for this intervention to improve health outcomes needs to be further tested in future studies and could specifically target emerging adults or other individuals with pre-existing risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases.