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Note: This study is currently only recruiting patients in the hospital.

If you are interested in being notified if this study begins recruiting from the general population, please use the 'I Am Interested' button below.

Help Us Learn More About the Effect of Light Exposure at Night on the Body!

Brigham and Women's Hospital seeks healthy 20-40 year-olds for a 33-day research study of how sleep and artificial light affect metabolism and brain function.

33 days
Estimated Time Commitment
Male, Female, Gender-expansive, Nonbinary, 20-40 years
May Be Eligible
Payment up to $9,225
May Be Offered
Blood draw, Injection or IV, Overnight stay, Survey, Office visit, X-ray
May Be Required
 
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This project is not recruiting.

What we are studying

In this research study we want to learn more about how insufficient sleep night after night adversely impacts metabolism, and how exposure to artificial light at night plays a role.


Why it is important

This project is designed to test for the first time whether glucose metabolism is differentially impaired by sleep restriction with and without additional exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN). Laboratory studies have shown that sleep restriction to 4-6h per night for durations varying from one to 14 days reduces glucose tolerance in otherwise healthy adults, but the mechanisms by which insufficient sleep impairs glucose metabolism are still unknown. Current theories are based on the premise that the adverse metabolic consequences are caused by reduction in the duration of sleep per se. However, sleep curtailment is typically accompanied by longer exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN), which is an environmental endocrine disrupter that profoundly disrupts circadian rhythms


What we hope to accomplish

The goal of this project is to evaluate whether extended duration artificial light at night (ALAN) contributes to the adverse effects of sleep restriction on glucose metabolism.

Principal Investigator

Charles A Czeisler, PhD, MD

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Public Profile

Healthy Participants who are:


- 20-40 years of age


- non-smokers


- not taking any medication


- are willing to abstain from use of caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol during study screening and during the study itself


- individuals with a BMI of < 25


- must be willing to spend the duration of the study (33 days and nights) living in the clinical research center


Healthy Volunteers

Healthy volunteers are eligible for this study

If you decide to join this research study, the following things will happen:



  • There will be a pre-study screening process to see if you qualify to be in the main study. These pre-study screening procedures will take about 4 weeks to finish. For the pre-study screening, we are asking you to make 3 screening visits. If it is more convenient for you, we may be able to do the screening in more than 3 visits. Some of these visits may be carried out by videocall.

  • You will live in a special study room at the Center for Clinical Investigation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for the entire 33-day study, without leaving. You will not know what day it is or what time it is during the study. Your study room will not have windows, clocks, or devices that tell time and you will not have access to the internet and you cannot use a smartphone or tablet during the study. We will schedule all your daily events, including meals, showers, bedtime and waketime.

  • On some nights you will be scheduled for less sleep than usual. This might happen many nights in a row. On some nights you will be asked to sit in bed in very dim light and remain awake for a couple of hours before and after your scheduled sleep. On every night we will record your brain waves.

  • On every day we will collect urine and saliva samples from you, and we will ask you to take a series of performance tests on a computer at frequent intervals. We will have you wear a glucose monitor that is placed on your arm all the time. You will wear an activity monitor like a watch on your wrist.

  • Four times during the study we will insert 1 IV to draw your blood. This will remain in for several days, and we will take small blood samples from it frequently during day and night.

  • We will measure your energy expenditure with a special test that requires you to sit quietly for about half an hour with a clear hood over your head. We will measure the gases you breathe out with a special test that requires you to breathe into a straw connected to a special machine, and you will do this several times per day for many days of the study.  


Project activities may include:

  • Blood draw
  • Injection or IV
  • Overnight stay
  • Survey
  • Office visit
  • X-ray

Estimated Time Commitment

33 days


You will be paid $125 if you complete all screening procedures. You will be paid $200 per day for each of
the 33 days of the inpatient study. You will be paid a $2,500 bonus if you complete the entire study. If you
do not complete the study, you will be paid for the parts of the study you have completed, but you will not
get any study bonus. If you complete the entire 33-day study, you will receive $9,225. It will take several
weeks from the time the study ends to process the request for the check and for the check to be mailed
to you.


Travel

  • Accessible by public transportation
  • Parking available
  • Local travel reimbursed

Travel and Parking Details

Study screening visits will be conducted at the Boston Lying In Hospital (part of BWH), 221 Longwood Avenue. Valet services are available for in-person study screening visits.


The main study is conducted at the main hospital, 75 Francis Street. Because participants are asked to stay for 33 days as an inpatient, parking is not available for this visit. Instead, participants will be asked to either get a ride, take public transportation, or take a taxi/ride service to and from the study. Travel to and from the study may be reimbursed. 


Participating Institutions


Funding Source

  • NIH or Other Federal
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