Air pollution, an overly warm bedroom, and high levels of carbon dioxide and noise reduce sleep duration.
- A study has found a link between air pollution, heat, carbon dioxide, noise and reduced sleep.
- In contrast, room humidity and barometric pressure had no effect on sleep quality or duration.
- For the researchers, their results show the importance of the bedroom environment on the quality of sleep. They will conduct new studies to determine the actions that could counter the disruptive factors.
A high temperature, constant noises or even high levels of air pollution and carbon dioxide in the bedroom… Here is the formula for bad sleep, according to a new study carried out by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Louisville.
Several environmental factors disturb our nights
To measure the impact of several environmental variables in the bedroom on sleep quality, the researchers followed 62 participants for two weeks. The volunteers wore activity monitors and kept diaries about their nights. The team found that higher levels of bedroom air pollution (fine particulate matter, PM2.5), carbon dioxide, noise and temperature were all linked to reduced sleep duration. .
In detail, a noisy environment was associated with a 4.7% decrease in sleep efficiency compared to a quiet room. A high carbon dioxide level caused a 4.0% decline from a low level.
To sleep well, it is recommended that the room temperature be around 19 degrees. The study, published in the journal Sleep Health on April 18, 2023, confirms the veracity of this advice. People falling asleep in a hot place showed a reduced sleep quality of 3.4% compared to a low temperature. The decline was 3.2% when the atmosphere was loaded with fine particles.
In contrast, two variables also studied – humidity and barometric pressure – were shown to have no effect on participants’ nights.
“These results highlight the importance of the bedroom environment for good quality sleep”explained the lead author of the study, Dr. Mathias Basner, director of the “sleep and chronobiology” division of the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sleep: we are not always aware of the problems in our bedroom
In parallel with the measurements taken by the researchers, the volunteers had to assess for themselves the humidity, temperature and noise levels in their bedrooms. The team noticed that most participants noted “just right”regardless of the actual exposure levels detected by their tools.
“We seem to subjectively get used to our bedroom environment and think there is no need to improve it, when in fact our sleep may be disturbed night after night, as evidenced by objective measures of sleep that we used in our study.said Dr. Basner in a communicated.
The expert and his team want to conduct new experiments to determine the interventions that could limit the impact of sleep-disrupting factors. “It could be as simple as leaving a bedroom door open to reduce carbon dioxide levels and using triple-glazed windows to reduce noise”said another author of the article, Aruni Bhatnagar.