A recent study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine examined how aligning overnight fasting with natural sleep cycles may improve heart health. The study found that eating primarily during daytime hours, rather than late at night, can improve cardiovascular and metabolic function. The 7.5-week study, published by the American Heart Association, involved 39 overweight and obese adults ages 36 to 75 at risk for cardiometabolic conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Researchers found that extending overnight fasting and requiring participants to finish eating at least three hours before bedtime improved nighttime blood pressure and better daytime blood-sugar control. Participants in both groups also dimmed their lights three hours before sleep. Overall, participants showed meaningful improvements in cardiovascular and metabolic health both during sleep and throughout the day.
Intermittent fasting has been a popular topic in recent years, and research has shown that it can improve cardiometabolic health. Those studies, though, focused on the length of fasting rather than aligning fasting with the sleep schedule, which, according to this sleep study, is a key factor to metabolic regulation.
According to study author, Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, “timing our fasting window to work with the body’s natural wake-sleep rhythms can improve the coordination between the heart, metabolism, and sleep, all of which work together to protect cardiovascular health,” the research associate professor of neurology explained.
“It’s not only how much and what you eat, but also when you eat, relative to sleep, that is important for the physiological benefits of time-restricted eating,” Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Feinberg, emphasized.
Black communities face a disproportionately higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiometabolic diseases. Another Feinberg School of Medicine study, headed by Dr. Xiaoning Huang, found that Black adults face heart failure nearly 14 years earlier than their white counterparts, illustrating the importance of increasing enrollment and participation of Black patients in clinical trials.
“This means starting prevention earlier and screening risk factors sooner,” explained Huang. “We also need social workers to connect patients to resources that address social needs in addition to medical ones.”
The sleep study offers an example of the type of alternative, low-barrier prevention strategy Dr. Huang advocates. With a 90% adherence rate, likely driven by the fact that participants were asked to make only minor bedtime adjustments rather than take medication, the intervention underscores how accessible, non-pharmacological approaches can improve cardiometabolic health. The study’s authors, Zee and Grimaldi, plan to refine and expand this pilot intervention through future multi-center trials.
Cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes disproportionately affect Black communities, yet there’s limited data on how Black patients respond to current medical treatments. Increasing clinical trial participation is essential to developing safe and effective therapies. By participating in a clinical research trial, patients can treat their conditions and contribute to community health outcomes.
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