Christian Benedict awarded DKK 9,35 million to study sleep and glucose levels
With a multimillion grant from the Danish Novo Nordisk Foundation, sleep researcher Christian Benedict will track the daily routines of 240 people for two weeks. One of the questions he hopes to answer is how the infamous evening snack affects the restorative powers of nighttime sleep.
(Image removed) Christian Benedict, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences
Christian Benedict, Associate Professor at Uppsala University's Faculty of Pharmacy, has been awarded a research grant of 9.35 million Danish kroner by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The grant will fund a study focusing on how broken sleep affects blood glucose levels in overweight and obese people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
“We will use advanced sleep-tracking technologies to follow 240 participants over two weeks. During this fortnight, the participants will have free-living conditions, which will include some logistical challenges but above all provide us with huge amounts of relevant information. Our ambition is to contribute to increased understanding of the interactions between sleep, glucose control and brain health, something that in the long run might enable improved interventions of benefit to people with an unhealthy weight,” says Christian Benedict.
In focus is also what consequences elevated blood glucose levels occurring just sleep onset – in popular speech: The evening snack – have on the restorative powers of nighttime sleep. In longer-term the team, by assembling data from more than 3,100 nights, also hope to lay the foundation for future research and analyses of the effects irregular sleep can have on our health.
“In 2014, we received the Novo Nordisk Foundation's Excellence Emerging Investigator Grant, which was almost decisive for us to - via a number of high-profile publications - establish our research environment. Now we have advanced to an Ascending Investigator Grant, which gives us exactly the resources we need to enter this project with very high hopes.”
FACTS
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation works to stimulate continued development of excellent research leaders and to promote Nordic research at a high international level.
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation's Ascending Investigator Grant supports talented research leaders at the associate professor level in the process of consolidating their research group and profile.
- Christian Benedict's research group studies how disturbances in the circadian rhythm and sleep loss affect health and performance with a particular focus on the connection between sleep deprivation and metabolism.
LEARN MORE
- Untangling the role of sleep in blood sugar and brain health (Novo Nordisk Foundation)
- Grant recipient: Christian Benedict (Novo Nordisk Foundation)
- Christian Benedict
CONTACT
(Image removed) Christian Benedict, Senior Lecturer
Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences
Christian.Benedict@farmbio.uu.se
Text: Magnus Alsne