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Participate

Who is eligible to participate?

Individuals who have participated in the Ontario Health Study (OHS) and provided a blood sample to the OHS are eligible to participate in the Ontario Sleep Health Study.

We would like to extend a special welcome to individuals who have also participated in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds study. Your participation in the Ontario Sleep Health Study is essential to achieving our goal of understanding better the links between sleep, heart disease and stroke.

How do I participate?

To sign up for the Ontario Sleep Health Study:

  1. If you have completed the Ontario Health Study survey and provided a blood sample for it, please indicate your interest in participating in the Ontario Sleep Health Study by clicking here.
  2. Alternatively, you may contact Andrew Centen, the study coordinator, directly at 416-480-5143 or ontariosleephealthstudy@sunnybrook.ca.

Registration for the Ontario Sleep Health Study is still open. Please note, however, that the Ontario Health Study is no longer accepting new study participants nor are they still collecting blood samples. So, if you have not already completed the Ontario Health Study survey and provided a blood sample, you will not be eligible to participate in the Ontario Sleep Health Study.

If you are unsure whether or not you have completed the Ontario Health Study survey and provided a blood sample, please contact Andrew Centen at 416-480-5143 or ontariosleephealthstudy@sunnybrook.ca to find out if you meet these two prerequisites for the Ontario Sleep Health Study.

What is involved?

The entire study takes place in your own home. There are no additional costs to you. We will mail equipment to you, which you will use to measure your sleep and biological rhythms over a 10-day period. You will then mail the equipment back to the study centre using a postage-paid envelope. The study will involve:

  1. Wearing a wrist watch-like accelerometer (Figure A) 24 hours a day for 10 days. This tells us when you are sleeping and how well you are sleeping.
  2. Wearing a simple portable device (Figure B) to measure your breathing in your sleep for one night.
  3. Completing an online questionnaire about your sleep habits, biological rhythms and daily functioning.
  4. Completing an online questionnaire about memory and concentration.

Figure A, Actiwatch
Figure A: Actiwatch

Figure B1, Apnealink Air
Figure B: ApneaLink Air

How will this study benefit me?

Once you have completed the study, we will provide you with data about your sleep and circadian rhythms, including the quantity and quality of your sleep and the likelihood that you have problems breathing in your sleep (also known as sleep apnea).

You will not be paid to participate in this study. However, at the end of your participation, you will be provided with a $10 gift card from your choice of Tim Hortons, Loblaws, Provigo, No Frills, Zehrs or Maxi.

Most importantly, by participating in this study, you will play a valuable role in helping us to understand better how sleep and circadian rhythm disruption affect our health and well-being—knowledge that can be used to design new sleep-related interventions to prevent diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and brain diseases like stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. In doing so, you will make an important contribution to improving the health of Ontarians for generations to come.

For participants

PDF file View consent form (PDF) (also available in Word format)

PDF file View equipment instruction sheets (PDF) (also available in Word format)

Contact information

Email: ontariosleephealthstudy@sunnybrook.ca
Telephone: 416-480-5143
Address: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave., AB 211, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5