Tuesday, March 31, 2026
DENTON (UNT), Texas — While Isamar Almeida wanted to be a mental health researcher from a young age, she wasn’t always sure where that path would lead.
That changed when she moved from Venezuela to the U.S. in 2019 and began working at a law firm specializing in immigration. Her work there included interviewing clients who had endured traumatic events, many of whom described difficulty sleeping.
“People described nightmares and difficulty falling asleep as daily struggles. That stood out to me because sleep is a central pillar of overall health.”
Almeida, who was already a psychologist by training, knew then that she wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in behavioral science. Once enrolled in University of North Texas Department of Psychology, she concentrated her research on the health and well-being of immigrant communities, with a specific focus on sleep.
Now, Almeida has published a scientific paper with significant findings for the behavioral health field. Her research, published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, shows a connection between cardiovascular and metabolic — or cardiometabolic — health and sleep duration. While the health risks of sleeping less than seven hours per night were previously established, this paper demonstrates that sleeping more than nine hours per night is also associated with poor health outcomes.
“Until my third year of doctoral training, my research focused on social, cultural and psychological factors affecting sleep in immigrant communities,” she said. “But that’s just one piece of the puzzle — we also want to understand how good or poor sleep affects physical health, including heart and metabolic health.”
Almeida analyzed a dataset from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. The data, collected between 2011 and 2014 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), included sleep data taken from wearable devices and questionnaires. Because the NHANES also included health exams and laboratory testing for all participants, Almeida was able to investigate participants’ cardiometabolic health and sleep data for correlations.
“Many studies rely on self-report questions like, ‘How many hours do you sleep each
night?’ These answers aren’t always precise, so I was excited to discover that the
NHANES also had sleep data from wearable devices,” she said. “Using more objective
measures of sleep alongside self-reports helps researchers better understand the relationship
between sleep and cardiometabolic health.”
To reach her conclusions, Almeida used a metabolic syndrome severity score that considered an individual’s physical measurements, fasting glucose levels, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. While her findings showed poor health outcomes for people experiencing both short and long sleep, they showed an especially robust connection between long sleep duration — defined as sleeping more than nine hours per day — and metabolic syndrome, even when taking other factors like sedentary lifestyle and mental health issues into account.
Danica Slavish, associate professor in UNT’s Department of Psychology and co-author of the paper, said the implications of the research are significant for the field of behavioral science.
“I think this is a signal that we need to pay attention to people who are sleeping longer than what’s typical to see what else may be happening in their lives,” said Slavish, who is also the principal investigator for the Sleep and Health in Everyday Life (SHEL) Laboratory. “Like a lot of things in health and psychology, it’s not always just about ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ of something — we need to see both sides of the spectrum.”
As a recent Ph.D. graduate, Almeida is seeking applied behavioral health research opportunities. While her professional journey may take her research in new directions, Almeida said this project sharpened her research skills and widened her professional network. She also hopes to continue exploring the links between sleep and health.
“Most people, including researchers and health providers, usually look at the effects of not getting enough sleep. But consistent long sleep can be an indicator of other health issues and should also be taken seriously.”
From UNT News – Research