Sleep Promotion to Improve Diabetes Management in Adolescents With T1D

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at increased risk for problems with adherence and suboptimal glycemic control, and novel approaches are needed to improve outcomes in this high-risk population. The majority of adolescents obtain insufficient sleep (defined as <8 hours/night), and sleep disturbance has been significantly associated with poorer adherence and predicted greater problems with quality of life and worse glycemic control. Yet, no interventions have addressed sleep in youth with T1D. Working from a biopsychosocial and contextual model of sleep, the investigators propose to tailor a sleep-promoting intervention to meet the needs of adolescents with T1D by conducting interviews with to identify the barriers and facilitators to adequate sleep specific to this population. The sleep-promoting intervention will be developed and tested, building on successful sleep interventions in other populations, including components such as limiting caffeine, establishing a media curfew, and positive bedtime routines, while addressing the needs unique to adolescents with T1D, such as fear of hypoglycemia. The study will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team, consisting of Sarah Jaser, PhD, a pediatric psychologist, and two co-investigators, Beth Malow, MD, MS, a neurologist with specialty in sleep medicine, and Jill Simmons, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist. Sleep is a potentially modifiable risk factor that may have both a physiological and behavioral impact on diabetes outcomes. Given the strong associations between sleep and diabetes outcomes in the preliminary data, and recent evidence from sleep restriction studies indicating the impact of insufficient sleep on insulin sensitivity, behavior, and mood, there is reason to believe that a sleep-promoting intervention has the potential to improve outcomes in adolescents with T1D indirectly by improving adherence and directly through its effect on metabolic function. Therefore, the proposed study offers a novel approach to improve adherence, quality of life, and glycemic control in adolescents with T1D.