Wake-Up Call: TAMU-CC Study Looks at E-Cigarette Impact on Sleep
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — E-cigarettes have dominated the nicotine market since their introduction more than a decade ago. Originally developed as a tool to help smokers quit traditional cigarettes, these devices are now, in many cases, the starting point for nicotine use. The shift is concerning, especially given the growing list of health risks. According to the American Cancer Society, e-cigarettes can damage the lungs, increase heart rate and blood pressure, and irritate blood vessels.
Now, researchers at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are exploring yet another potential consequence. Dr. Joshua Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Physiology in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and a team of fellow faculty and students have embarked on a study to investigate the impact e-cigarettes have on a person’s sleep.
“If we understand how e-cigarettes are affecting sleep, then we can develop interventions to improve sleep, help users quit e-cigarettes, or at least lower the amount of time users are using e-cigarettes throughout the day,” Gonzalez said. “Good quality sleep is when you fall asleep quickly. So, within 15 minutes of beginning your sleep period.”
According to Gonzalez, one of the best predictors of whether a person is going to fall asleep and stay asleep is skin temperature. It turns out that when the lights go off at night, your skin warms up to release heat from your core, a process that helps you fall into a deep sleep more quickly.
“We know that tobacco cigarettes can cause endothelial damage — harm to the small blood vessels under the skin — which makes quality sleep harder to achieve,” Gonzalez said.
To help trace the impact e-cigarettes have on sleep, Gonzalez is conducting a study with at least 60 participants — 30 people who use e-cigarettes and 30 people who don’t. He is receiving help from fellow faculty members and co-investigators Dr. Erica M. Filep, Assistant Professor of Athletic Training, and Amiee Marie Griffis, Clinical Assistant Professor in Nursing Education. Three undergraduate research assistants are also involved: nursing majors Summer Franklin ’27, Kimberly Jacob ’26, and Kaeda Reamer ’26.
“I’m incredibly proud of the dedication and professionalism these students have shown throughout this study,” Gonzalez said. “Their attention to detail, critical thinking, and teamwork have made a real impact. I have no doubt that this experience is setting them up for success, whether they’re heading into the workforce or continuing their academic journey.”
This hands-on experience has given the students a front-row seat to the research process, something they say has been both eye-opening and inspiring.
“Working on this project has really opened the door for me when it comes to the research side of medicine,” Jacob said. “It’s a side of the medical field I had never really thought about before, but now I’m enjoying it so much.”
The team kicks off the evaluation with a stress test, the first in a series of trials for participants.
“When you get stressed out, skin vasoconstricts — which means the blood vessels in the skin narrow, reducing blood flow to the surface — and causes the skin to get cold,” said Reamer, who also took part in the 2025 TAMU-CC Student Research and Innovation Summer Experience (S-RISE). “Then, during the recovery process, the skin warms back up as you relax and recover. Gonzalez’s hypothesis is that e-cigarette users will have lower skin recovery than non-e-cigarette users. So, less skin vasodilation, less skin warming after stress, and this will correlate with poor sleep quality.”
Some high-tech tools are also used as part of the study, including a special wristwatch that tracks sleep patterns and e-cigarette usage, along with a vest that monitors cardiac activity over a 24-hour period.
“Those who have a low heart rate variability (fluctuations in the amount of time between heartbeats) during sleep are more at risk for stroke or heart attack,” Gonzalez said.
The study, which could take up to a year to complete, is being funded by the Texas Comprehensive Research Fund, an internal award from TAMU-CC, along with some smaller grants from other sources. Gonzalez hopes the results from this initial study will pave the way for larger grants to support a more comprehensive investigation.
“Ideally, we’d like to bring participants into the lab for a tightly controlled sleep study, allowing us to examine how e-cigarette use affects skin temperature, sleep architecture, and ultimately, how the presence or absence of nicotine influences sleep,” Gonzalez said. “That will really help us understand nicotine withdrawal and how it impacts sleep. Then we can dig into a solution.”
For the nursing students involved, contributing to this study has done more than build research skills; it’s broadened their understanding of patient care and the diverse needs they’ll encounter in the field.
“The experience has given me a deeper appreciation for the complexity of health care and the importance of considering each patient as an individual,” Franklin said. “Getting to work with different people from different backgrounds has been very helpful.”
