# Countermeasures to cardiovascular impairment during circadian misalignment

> **NIH NIH F31** · COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $35,733

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 People who work evening, night or rotating shifts (i.e. “nonstandard” work hours) make up 20% of the
US workforce, have a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to people who work days.
Sleep and circadian misalignment are two mechanism suggested to increases the risk of CVD in people who
work non-standard hours, and is highly prevalent and often unavoidable in modern, 24-hour society (e.g. shift
work, long work hours, jet lag, medical residency, emergency responders, military personnel, Daylight Savings
Time changes, etc). Disruptions in sleep and circadian rhythms have been linked to insulin resistance,
increased energy intake, weight gain, and increased total body, abdominal and intrahepatic fat content, yet
there have been limited attempts at identifying strategies or countermeasures to prevent the impact of such
disruption on CVD risk in a sizeable proportion of the population.
 Therefore, our long-term goal is to identify and develop effective, behavioral countermeasures to
combat the increased risk for metabolic diseases associated with sleep and circadian disruption when these
behaviors are unavoidable. The overall objective for this project is to test the impact of time-restricted feeding
to a 7h period in the day as a noninvasive countermeasure to the metabolic impairments associated with
circadian misalignment. Our central hypothesis is that time-restricted feeding to the daytime period will prevent
cardiovascular impairments during circadian misalignment compared to a condition where energy is consumed
throughout the day and night. The rationale for the proposed project is that defining a non-invasive, scalable
and feasible countermeasure to circadian misalignment could mitigate the risk of cardiovascular disease.
 To test our overall hypothesis, will use a randomized crossover study with a rigorous inpatient diet-,
activity and light-controlled protocol in 32 healthy men and women. We will determine the impact of time-
restricted feeding during circadian misalignment on 1) 24h blood pressure; and 2) vascular function.
 Findings from this study represent a critical advancement in the fields of translational circadian and
metabolic physiology by identifying and testing a countermeasure to circadian misalignment. Achievement of
our proposed aims could lead to the development of new intervention strategies for chronic disease prevention
and management. The knowledge to be gained offers the potential to support cost-effective programs that may
inform our healthcare approach to cardiovascular disease prevention in populations at risk for these diseases
such as shift workers, individuals with sleep disorders and anyone who eats outside of daytime hours.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10802104
- **Project number:** 5F31HL165883-02
- **Recipient organization:** COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sophie Seward
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $35,733
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-26 → 2024-08-25

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10802104

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10802104, Countermeasures to cardiovascular impairment during circadian misalignment (5F31HL165883-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10802104. Licensed CC0.

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