Clinical Research Directory

SHLH for Urban Adolescents (Efficacy Trial)

The overall study goal is to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Sleeping Healthy, Living Healthy (SHLH), a novel intervention that combines healthy sleep practices with mind-body integrative health (MBIH) approaches to improve sleep health among urban adolescents. The study will also use a mixed-methods multi-stakeholder process evaluation to understand barriers and facilitators to adoption and implementation of SHLH across geographically diverse high schools, and to inform future dissemination and scale-up efforts. Aim #1: To evaluate the efficacy of SHLH in 294 urban adolescents with lower than recommended sleep duration for age. The study will randomize students from 12 NYC public high schools over 3 years, following them at four timepoints for 1-year post-intervention. While adolescents are the primary respondent for all outcomes, caregivers will be interviewed at the same intervals. School attendance data and grades will be obtained from schools. Aim #2: To assess the cost-effectiveness of SHLH compared to an attention control sleep intervention from the school system and societal perspectives. Outcomes will be cost per day of school absences and tardiness avoided (school system perspective) and cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained (societal perspective). Aim #3: To track the extent of uptake and delivery of SHLH across students and schools, and to identify multi-level factors that influence the implementation of SHLH, with the goal of informing future dissemination and scale-up of SHLH.

Development of an mHealth Behavioral Sleep Medicine Intervention for Use During Medication Assisted Treatment for MOUD

This study is to develop and test a medical health application based on cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and augmented with other evidence-based sleep interventions that address common sleep-related problems in opioid use disorder. An initial program will be built utilizing input from persons beginning medications for opioid use disorders.

Rise & Shine: Promoting Sleep Quality in Chronic Stroke With Exercise

health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and dementia. After a person suffers a stroke, they often experience difficulties in getting a good night's sleep. Approximately half of stroke survivors have insomnia, or have trouble falling and/or staying asleep. Poor sleep quality among stroke survivors increases the risk of recurrent stroke by 3-fold and the risk of early death by 76%. Hence, stroke survivors need strategies to promote better sleep. Fortunately, evidence shows that sleep quality can be improved with exercise, even among those who struggle with insomnia. Whether exercise training can improve sleep quality in adults with chronic stroke (i.e., at least 12 months has passed since their stroke) and poor sleep quality is not known. In addition, it is unknown if improved sleep is associated with improved outcomes in those with chronic stroke. This study will specifically evaluate the effect of twice-weekly targeted exercise training on sleep quality over a 6-month period in persons with chronic stroke and poor sleep quality. This study will also evaluate the effect of exercise on the following outcomes: 1) sleep structure; 2) fatigue; 3) daytime sleepiness; 4) mood; 5) physical function and capacity; 6) thinking abilities; 7) heart health; and 8) quality of life. Finally, this study will examine how changes in sleep quality may be related to changes in these outcomes. Our proposed research is timely as the importance of sleep to recovery, health, and wellbeing post-stroke is increasingly recognized.

Impact of Pistachio Consumption on Sleep

Sleep is essential for life and overall health. Unfortunately, a large portion of the population in the U.S. and worldwide experience sleep deficiencies, which increase their risk for developing chronic diseases. These sleep difficulties often cause distress, leading individuals to seek various forms of treatment. Given that some drugs cause habituation and undesirable side effects, individuals often turn to over-the-counter sleep remedies. However, long-term use of over-the-counter treatments is not recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for insomnia treatment and there is currently no recommendation related to dietary management. There is a strong need to identify natural measures to improve sleep in millions of adults battling poor sleep. Diet is emerging as a potentially important modulator of sleep. Despite observational data linking greater nut intake with better sleep, and that pistachios contain a significant number of sleep-promoting compounds, no study to date has evaluated the impact of pistachio supplementation on sleep. To address this key knowledge gap, the investigators propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of pistachio consumption, relative to a calorie-matched control food, on sleep in middle-aged adults with poor sleep and to explore underlying mechanisms.