Dr Lygeri Dimitriou, BSc, MSc, PGCHE, PhD is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Physiology. She is a co Programme leader for the MSc in Sport and Exercise Nutrition and the leader for the MSc in Sport and Exercise Sciences (Physiology pathway). Lygeri has been employed at Middlesex University since May 2004. She has also delivered exercise physiology and immunology training workshops to both athletes and coaches across a variety of sports, and is actively engaged in research and consultation with high profile athletes and teams.
Greek, English
Lygeri currently module leads and teaches on MSc modules in Sport and Exercise Physiology. These modules focus on developing mastery in a range of contemporary laboratory techniques, used in the assessment of human physiology at rest and in response to acute and chronic exercise, and on designing, defending and delivering evidence-based training programmes and battery of tests, conducting research, analysing and interpreting data and reporting results.
She has one successful PhD completion and also supervises three PhD students and several MSc students on Strength and Conditioning Science, Sport and Exercise Nutrition and Sport and Exercise Physiology.
In the past eleven years module led and taught on the following undergraduate and postgraduate modules:
Lygeri’s specific research revolves around three areas of sport and exercise physiology that have important implications for athletic performance and recovery, military dropout rates and medical discharge, fatigue, immunodepression, upper respiratory illness, pulmonary inflammation and injury.
The first deals with the acute and chronic effects of physical training/activity and/or competition on immune function and status, muscle damage, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, cortisol levels, measured in blood and/or saliva, and the mood state of competitive athletes, marathoners, military recruits, and Everest climbers.
The second deals with the investigation of the effects of cryotherapy and antioxidant supplements on muscle adaptation, markers of muscle and metabolic damage, immunity, pulmonary inflammation, respiratory symptoms and recovery following prolonged exhaustive exercise and resistance training .
The third deals with the female athlete triad and some of its features such as osteoporosis, low bone mineral density and stress fractures, low energy availability, underweight, intentional weight loss, eating disorders, menstrual dysfunction, late menarche, in a wide range of competitive athletes and professional dancers.
Cockburn, Emma and Hills, Frank and Wilson, Laura J. and Paice, Katherine and Wood, Alyssa and Dimitriou, Lygeri (2017) The effect of plasma volume on changes in biomarkers of muscle damage, inflammation, oxidative stress and leukocyte differential following a 42.2 km trail run, and the efficacy of recovery interventions. In: BASES Conference 2017, 28-29 Nov 2017, Nottingham, UK.
Paice, Katherine and Dimitriou, Lygeri and Wilson, Laura and Hills, Frank and Sinclair, Scott and Gondek, Marcela B. and Kwan, Xue Bin and Wood, Alyssa (2017) Influence of cold water immersion and cherry juice on recovery following a 42.2km trail run. In: BASES Conference 2017, 28-29 Nov 2017, Nottingham, UK.
Wilson, Laura J. and Dimitriou, Lygeri and Hills, Frank and Gondek, Marcela B. and Cockburn, Emma (2017) The influence of cold water immersion on markers of recovery following resistance exercise. In: BASES Conference 2017, 28-29 Nov 2017, Nottingham, UK.
Amorim, T. and Koutedakis, Y. and Nevill, A. and Wyon, M. and Maia, J. and Machado, J. C. and Marques, F. and Metsios, G. S. and Flouris, A. D. and Adubeiro, N. and Nogueira, L. and Dimitriou, Lygeri (2017) Bone mineral density in vocational and professional ballet dancers. Osteoporosis International, 28 (10). pp. 2903-2912. ISSN 0937-941X
Wilson, Laura J. and Cockburn, Emma and Paice, Katherine and Sinclair, Scott and Faki, Tanwir and Hills, Frank and Gondek, Marcela B. and Wood, Alyssa and Dimitriou, Lygeri (2018) Recovery following a marathon: a comparison of cold water immersion, whole body cryotherapy and a placebo control. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118 (1). pp. 153-163. ISSN 1439-6319
Lygeri has worked on a number of grant funded projects from the Royal Ballet Company, English National Ballet Company, British Olympic Association and the Cellular Nutrition Research Group, University of Oxford investigating the prevalence of low bone mineral density into athletes and dancers and the immune response to exercise.
Lygeri has been involved in various sport and exercise physiology and immunology research projects and consultation with organisations such as British Triathlon, English Institute of Sport, UK Athletics, British Army, Royal Ballet Company, English National Ballet, Everest team, IPRO Ltd, Queens Park Rangers Football Club, Saracens Rugby Club, West Ham Football Club and the Newham High Performance Athletes Program.
She has also consulted with TV Channel 4 (three-part programme: Ian Wrights Unfit Kids) and Radio BBC 6 (5-day programme: You are unfit and you know it on health and fitness campaigns to improve the general health and fitness in children and adults.