Website unibirmingham University of Birmingham
Closing date: 23rd November
The University of Birmingham seeks a PhD student to examine how sleep and circadian rhythm relate to fitness, brain blood flow and memory in older adults, and whether a year-long exercise programme improves them, on a competition-funded MIBTP PhD with Dr Katrien Segaert.
About the Project
As people age, brain health becomes increasingly important for maintaining independence. Two factors known to affect brain health, but often overlooked in ageing research, are sleep quality and circadian rhythm, our internal daily cycle of activity and rest. Both decline with age and are linked to poorer brain vascular and weaker memory, yet they are rarely studied together with exercise, a powerful and modifiable way to support brain health in later life.
This PhD project will be embedded within a larger, already funded study investigating how exercise improves brain health and cognition in older adults. That study involves detailed brain scanning, fitness testing, and cognitive assessment, but does not currently measure sleep or circadian rhythms. Adding this component allows the PhD student to answer new questions using a well characterised group of older adults, while benefiting from being embedded within a wider research team running the exercise intervention study, making this a highly novel yet feasible PhD project.
Objectives:
- Examine how sleep quality and circadian rhythms relate to fitness, brain blood flow, and memory or cognitive skills in older adults.
- Test whether a year-long structured exercise programme improves sleep and its alignment with the circadian system.
- Determine whether improvements in sleep and circadian rhythms help explain the brain and cognitive benefits of exercise, and why some individuals respond better than others.
- Explore whether sleep and circadian rhythms relate to blood markers of brain plasticity already being measured in the wider study.
Methods:
Participants will wear a small wrist monitor to objectively record sleep and daily activity patterns, alongside a brief sleep questionnaire. Light pins will be used to capture activity and light data to estimate circadian rhythmicity. A memory task sensitive to sleep will be added to the existing cognitive testing. Statistical analyses will explore relationships between sleep, fitness, brain health, and cognition, both at a single time point and across the yearlong exercise programme.
Funding notes:
This is a PhD studentship with the Midlands Integrated Biosciences Training Partnership, funded by BBSRC and in partnership with the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Aston University, Harper Adams University, Coventry University, and the University of Leicester. For more details please visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/ or https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/college-of-life-and-environmental-sciences/midlands-integrative-biosciences-training-partnership
To apply for this job please visit www.findaphd.com.
