Press

February 2024: Consistency is Key

Interdisciplinary research shows eating, sleeping routines impact cardiovascular health. Consistency in eating and sleeping routines matters for vascular health. That’s the conclusion of years of interdisciplinary research by University of Delaware College of Health Sciences (CHS) researchers whose work was recently published in the Journal of American Heart Association (JAHA). To get more information, read the full article here.

February 2022: Groundbreaking Muscular Dystrophy Research

Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophies are diseases that impact one in every 5,000 boys and one in every 18,500 boys, respectively. Characteristically, these boys most often experience difficulty walking, difficulty performing ADLs,  progressive skeletal muscle wasting, and often die relatively young as a result of heart failure. Unfortunately, not much is known regarding these cardiovascular consequences or cardiac trajectory of DMD and BMD, which is what Dr. Witman hopes to get insight into with this innovative research. To get more information, read the full article here.

February 2022: The Heart of the Matter: UD study explores why Black women experience higher heart disease risk:

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States; however, research has shown that black women are at a greater risk for heart disease than white women. Melissa Witman and colleagues report new clues that may help explain why black women experience greater risk in their recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology on October 28, 2021. The study found that black women experience diminished function in the smaller blood vessels that make up the body’s microvascular system. Read the full article here.

December 2020: Sleep Regularly Study:

A new study by Elissa Hoopes, Postdoctoral Associate, and Melissa Witman, Assistant Professor, suggests that consistently sleeping the same amount every night is associated with better cardiovascular health, and that irregular sleep may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, even in otherwise healthy, young adults. Fifty-one healthy undergraduate students participated in the study, wearing a biosensing device — wrist accelerometers, similar to the fitness and sleep trackers worn by many — 24 hours a day for 14 days. Along with sleep monitoring, participants were tested for vascular function and blood samples were drawn and analyzed. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Sleep, which focuses on sleep and circadian science and is the official publication of the Sleep Research Society. Read the full article here.