# Examining the reciprocal effects of racial discrimination and sleep on cardiovascular functioning: An experimental approach

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $774,078

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
African Americans (AAs) are disproportionately burdened by clinical and subclinical cardiovascular disease
(CVD) when compared to European Americans (EAs), and while experiences of racial discrimination have
been associated with CVD morbidity among AAs, including high daytime and nighttime blood pressure, the
mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. Poor sleep, such as short sleep duration and poor
sleep continuity, may serve as a novel pathway; however, this possibility has not been rigorously tested. While
poor sleep, which is more common among AAs, prospectively predicts CVD morbidity and mortality, findings
that racial discrimination affects sleep and putative cardiovascular pathways are mixed. Evidence linking racial
discrimination and sleep are derived from cross-sectional studies, and researchers have largely ignored the
possibility of reciprocal effects. While experiences of racial discrimination may impair nightly sleep, poor sleep
may increase one's tendency to interpret and react to ambiguous stimuli as discriminatory or threatening. Only
experimental designs can demonstrate causal influences of racial discrimination on sleep and vice versa. The
overarching goal of this proposal is to systematically dissect the reciprocal effects of racial discrimination and
sleep on cardiovascular functioning, including blood pressure regulation, and identify key mechanisms and
moderators of the discrimination-sleep link.
 To accomplish this goal, we propose two experimental studies. In Study 1 we will to randomize 80 AAs
and 80 EAs to either racial discrimination using our well-validated race-based social rejection paradigm (i.e.,
being rejected by an outgroup member) or same-race social rejection to test the causal influences of racial
discrimination on objective sleep parameters, measured using polysomnography, and nocturnal cardiovascular
functioning, including nocturnal blood pressure. In Study 2 we will test the causal influences of sleep loss on
perceptions of and physiological reactions to racial discrimination by using sleep restriction as an experimental
probe. Here, we will randomize 80 AAs to either a partial sleep restriction condition (2 nights of 4 hours/night)
or normal sleep in our sleep laboratory followed by a series of laboratory tasks to assess one's tendency to
perceive ambiguous stimuli as discriminatory, magnitude of sympathetic activation/parasympathetic withdrawal
during inter-racial interactions, and attentional vigilance toward outgroup members. Proposed affective,
cognitive, and physiological mechanisms will be examined as will potential moderators (e.g., socioeconomic
status and race-based rejection sensitivity). These studies will fill fundamental gap in the scientific literature
and provide the critical causal and mechanistic evidence necessary to address racial disparities in sleep and
cardiovascular risk.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9975895
- **Project number:** 5R01HL142051-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Aric Andrew Prather
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $774,078
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9975895

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9975895, Examining the reciprocal effects of racial discrimination and sleep on cardiovascular functioning: An experimental approach (5R01HL142051-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9975895. Licensed CC0.

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