Shawn Youngstedt

About

Shawn Youngstedt is a Professor at Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation and the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. He holds a PhD in Exercise Science from the University of Georgia and a BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. His academic career includes positions as a Post-Doctoral Scholar and Research Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD, as well as roles as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina. Since 2014, he has been a Research Scientist at Phoenix VA and a Professor at ASU. His research focuses on the risks associated with long sleep, with epidemiologic studies indicating that both short sleep (less than 6 hours) and long sleep (8 hours or more) are linked to mortality and various morbidities. His team is among the few conducting experimental studies on long sleep. Additionally, he investigates nonpharmacologic methods to improve sleep and mental health, including the effects of exercise and bright light on conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and PTSD. His work aims to better understand sleep patterns and develop interventions to enhance sleep quality and mental health outcomes.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Demography
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Gerontology
• Physical therapy
• Internal medicine
• Sociology
• Pediatrics

Selected publications

• COVID-19 Leads to Accelerated Increases in Children's BMI z-Score Gain: An Interrupted Time-Series Study

  American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2021 · 96 citations

  DOI

• The impact of summer vacation on children’s obesogenic behaviors and body mass index: a natural experiment

  International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity · 2020 · 65 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Children's BMI gain accelerates during summer. The Structured Days Hypothesis posits that the lack of the school day during summer vacation negatively impacts children's obesogenic behaviors (i.e., physical activity, screen time, diet, sleep). This natural experiment examined the impact of summer vacation on children's obesogenic behaviors and body mass index (BMI). METHODS: Elementary-aged children (n = 285, 5-12 years, 48.7% male, 57.4% African American) attending a year-round (n =…

  DOI

• Recruitment and retention of underrepresented and vulnerable populations to research

  Public Health Nursing · 2021 · 63 citations

  Per principles outlined in the Belmont Report, research involving human subjects should minimize risks to participants and maximize benefits to participants and society. Recruitment of participants should be equitable. Once enrolled, participants have the right to withdraw at any point. Researchers must balance these principles with pressures to meet enrollment goals and, in the context of repeated-measures designs, retain participants across time. The purpose of this perspective is to describe…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on change in sleep patterns in an exploratory, cross-sectional online sample of 79 countries

  Sleep Health · 2021 · 32 citations

  DOI

• Bright Light Treatment of Combat-related PTSD: A Randomized Controlled Trial

  Military Medicine · 2021 · 28 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent consequence of combat with significant associated morbidity. Available treatments for PTSD have had limitations, suggesting a need to explore alternative or adjuvant treatments. Numerous rationales for bright light treatment of PTSD include its benefits for common PTSD comorbidities of depression, anxiety, and circadian misalignment and its relative ease of use with few side effects. The primary aims of this research were to exam…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Influence of Exercise, Weight Loss, and Exercise Plus Weight Loss on Sleep Apnea

  NIH · 2016–2020

• NIH Grant R01HL071560

  NIH · $666k · 2007

• Chronic Moderate Sleep Restriction in Older Long and Older Average Sleepers

  NIH · $3.8M · 2011–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel F. Kripke

  University of California, San Diego

  75 shared

• Christopher E. Kline

  University of Pittsburgh

  59 shared

• Jeffrey A. Elliott

  University of California, San Diego

  58 shared

• James B. Burch

  Virginia Commonwealth University

  45 shared

• Rod K. Dishman

  University of Georgia

  41 shared

• Mark R. Zielinski

  VA Boston Healthcare System

  34 shared

• Marcos Gonçalves Santana

  26 shared

• B. N. Bunnell

  24 shared

Education

• B.A., Psychology

  University of Texas-Austin

  1987

• Ph.D., Exercise Science

  University of Georgia

  1995

Similar researchers at Arizona State University

• Ross Andelh-62
• David Coonh-44
• Kelly Davish-42