Mild sleep restriction increases 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in premenopausal women with no indication of mediation by psychological effects.

Background: Studies assessing the impact of sleep restriction (SR) on blood pressure (BP) are limited by short study length, extreme SR (<4 hours a night), and lack of attention to psychological distress as a possible mediator.

Methods: A community-based cohort was assembled with 237 women (age 34.1 ± 13.

Impact of change in bedtime variability on body composition and inflammation: secondary findings from the Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Research Network.

Variability in daily sleep patterns is an emerging factor linked to metabolic syndrome. However, whether reducing bedtime variability improves markers of disease risk has not been tested. Here, we assessed whether body composition and inflammation were impacted by changes in bedtime variability over a 6-week period, during which, women were instructed to maintain healthy, habitual sleep (HS) patterns (one arm of a randomized trial).

Information on Bedtimes and Wake Times Improves the Relation Between Self-Reported and Objective Assessments of Sleep in Adults.

Study Objectives: To investigate the correlation between self-reported and objective measures of total sleep time (TST) in adults and examine whether sex, race/ethnicity, and weight status influence this association.

Methods: Participants were individuals who screened for sleep intervention studies, providing > 7 days of wrist actigraphy sleep data (TSTobj) and reporting sleep duration (TSTPSQI) using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire (n = 53 men, 60 women; 59% minority/Hispanics; age 30.9 ± 9.

Building a consensus on community health workers' scope of practice: lessons from New York.

Objectives: We evaluated efforts in New York to build a consensus between community health workers (CHWs) and employers on CHWs' scope of practice, training standards, and certification procedures.

Methods: We conducted multiple-choice surveys in 2008 and 2010 with 226 CHWs and 44 employers. We compared CHWs' and employers' recommendations regarding 28 scope of practice elements.