Dr Nataliia Tofan - Beyond Pharmacotherapy: Lifestyle-Based Strategies for Improving Cardiometabolic Health

Council For At-Risk Academics (CARA) Research Fellow Dr Nataliia Tofan delivers a seminar on their research - Hypertension and cardiometabolic disease are commonly managed through pharmacological control of clinical targets. However, achieving numerical targets through pharmacotherapy does not always correct underlying molecular abnormalities. My early research in clinical pharmacology examined how blood pressure responses in elderly patients with hypertension and coronary heart disease reflect intermolecular interactions and complex homeostatic shifts. These findings prompted a broader question: how can cardiometabolic health be improved, and adiposity reduced, through modifiable lifestyle factors such as sleep, physical activity and diet? At Loughborough University, this question has evolved into a research programme investigating how sleep extension affects blood pressure and glucose metabolism, alongside research on the interaction between exercise, appetite regulation, sleep and obesity and its implications for cardiometabolic disease. Together, this work contributes to an evidence-based lifestyle medicine framework aimed at improving cardiometabolic outcomes in addition to or beyond pharmacological management. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias