SLEEP 2025 Wakes Up to Miller School Sleep Research
Summary
- Sleep researchers from the Miller School’s Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences presented 34 posters at SLEEP 2025.
- Miller School research underscored how sleep disruption can affect Alzheimer’s disease risk.
- Center researchers also analyzed the impact of discrimination on sleep, finding a strong correlation between discrimination and insomnia, particularly among females.
Sleep research at the Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is driven by a dynamic, multidisciplinary team working at the intersection of neuroscience, cardiology, psychology, epidemiology and public health.
Grounded in a team science approach, the center’s investigators collaborate across disciplines to explore data-driven insights into the evolving science of sleep. This spirit of collaboration was on full display at SLEEP 2025, where center researchers presented 34 posters.
“These groundbreaking studies shed light on how sleep disruption, chronic stress and social inequities converge to influence Alzheimer’s disease risk, particularly among Black and Hispanic communities,” said Girardin Jean-Louis, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology and director of the center. “Their research calls for a new public health approach, one that integrates sleep health, social equity and early biomarker screening to reduce the disproportionate burden of Alzheimer’s disease in marginalized populations.”
Sleep and Cognitive Performance in Older Black Adults
NIH T32 postdoctoral scholar Brittany Larsen, Ph.D., R.D.N., and colleagues from the center explored how cardiovascular risk biomarkers influence the relationship between sleep stage durations and cognitive performance in older Black adults. Study findings highlight how inflammation and cardiovascular biomarkers are not only elevated with age, but also closely tied to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. These markers, influenced by poor sleep and neuroinflammation, may serve as early warning signs of cognitive decline.
The study recruited 35 participants ages 55 and older from New York and Florida. Participants wore Fitbit Inspire 2 HR devices for seven consecutive days to track the different stages, waves and eye movements during sleep. Participants also underwent blood tests to assess cardiometabolic biomarkers, including total-cholesterol-to-HDL ratio, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance markers. Cognitive performance was measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-BLIND test.
“This research shows how cholesterol profiles may influence how sleep architecture affects cognitive health in older Black adults,” Dr. Larsen said. “The absence of moderation by insulin resistance highlights the specificity of lipid metabolism in this relationship. Future longitudinal studies with larger, more diverse samples are needed to validate and expand upon these discoveries.”
Discrimination and Insomnia Severity
Discrimination can increase insomnia severity among Black adults in a study conducted by Michelle Thompson, Ph.D., LMHC, an NIH T32 postdoctoral scholar. This cross-sectional research examined 382 Black adults ages 18 to 75 living in New York City and Miami. The data was drawn from the NIH-funded ESSENTIAL study, which investigates psychosocial and environmental determinants of sleep health.
Using the statistical ordinary least squares regression, the researchers arranged analyses by sex and adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic variables. Post-hoc analyses explored non-linear relationships and item-level effects of everyday discrimination and insomnia.
“As our findings reveal, among females, higher everyday discrimination scores are significantly associated with greater insomnia severity,” Dr. Thompson said. “Among males, however, this association does not reach statistical significance. The findings call for tailored interventions that consider how Black men and women differentially experience and internalize discrimination and insomnia.”
Circadian Rhythms and Meal Timing
A recent study, utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition examination survey led by Velarie Ansu-Baidoo, Ph.D., an NIH T32 postdoctoral scholar, looked at how daily activity patterns relate to when we eat. Nearly 3,000 adults were studied and used wearable devices to track activity levels and sleep patterns. They also used 24-hour records to report timing of meals from which first, last and eating duration were determined.
“People who were more active overall tended to eat their first meal earlier and, their last meal later,” Dr. Ansu-Baidoo said. “Individuals whose natural activity peaks occurred earlier in the day tended to eat for shorter periods, while those whose peak activity happened later started eating later in the day.”
There were also differences by race and ethnicity. Non-Hispanic Asian and Black adults showed less consistent daily activity patterns than white adults. Hispanic adults tended to be more active overall.
“These differences in daily rhythms and meal timing may help explain some of the health disparities seen across different groups,” Dr. Ansu-Baidoo said. “The findings suggest that eating within a set window of time, known as time-restricted eating, might help improve health by better aligning meals with the body’s natural clock.”
Tags: Alzheimer's disease, cognitive decline, Dr. Girardin Jean-Louis, sleep, sleep disorders, sleep disturbances, sleep loss