Friday 20 May 2022 04:10 PM Climate change will deprive us of sleep, study says trends now

Friday 20 May 2022 04:10 PM Climate change will deprive us of sleep, study says trends now
Friday 20 May 2022 04:10 PM Climate change will deprive us of sleep, study says trends now

Friday 20 May 2022 04:10 PM Climate change will deprive us of sleep, study says trends now

Climate change is already expected to start wildfires and melt glaciers – but a new study claims it will also deprive us of our beloved night's rest.

Researchers have studied global weather data and information from sleep trackers worn by the public to predict future effects on our sleep. 

By the year 2099, temperatures will have taken away somewhere between 50 to 58 hours of sleep per person per year – just under 10 minutes per night. 

Temperature effects on sleep loss will be substantially larger for residents from lower income countries, such as India, as well as for older adults and females, according to the study.

Overall, adults will fall asleep later, rise earlier, and sleep less during hot nights in the future, which will risk 'several adverse physical and mental outcomes'. 

Climate change is likely to reduce the amount of sleep that people get per year, report experts at the University of Copenhagen (file photo)

Climate change is likely to reduce the amount of sleep that people get per year, report experts at the University of Copenhagen (file photo) 

Why do higher temperatures compromise sleep?

Higher global temperatures will eat away at our sleep totals because the body's core temperature needs to drop to fall asleep. 

This becomes harder to achieve as temperatures in our surroundings get hotter and hotter, however.  

Older people and women, especially post-menopausal women, are already in many cases worse at regulating their body temperature, making them more vulnerable. 

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Higher global temperatures will eat away at our sleep totals because the body's core temperature needs to drop to fall asleep. 

This becomes harder to achieve as temperatures in our surroundings get hotter and hotter, however.  

'Our bodies are highly adapted to maintain a stable core body temperature, something that our lives depend on,' said study author Kelton Minor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

'Yet every night they do something remarkable without most of us consciously knowing – they shed heat from our core into the surrounding environment by dilating our blood vessels and increasing blood flow to our hands and feet.' 

In order for our bodies to transfer heat from these extremities, the surrounding environment needs to be cooler than we are, Minor said. 

For the study, the research team used anonymized global sleep data collected from sleep-tracking wristbands that detect wakefulness and sleep patterns. 

The data included 7 million nightly sleep records from more than 47,000 adults across 68 countries spanning all continents except for Antarctica, including the UK, the US, Australia, France, India, Mexico and Canada. 

This was then compared with global weather measurements over time, allowing the team to find patterns between the two factors and make predictions for the future. 

The study found that on very warm nights hotter than 86°F (30°C), sleep declines an average of just over 14 minutes. 

The likelihood of getting less than seven hours of sleep also increases as temperatures rise. 

Under normal living routines, people appear far better at adapting to colder outside temperatures than hotter conditions.

'Across seasons, demographics, and different climate contexts, warmer outside temperatures consistently erode sleep, with the amount of sleep loss progressively increasing as temperatures become hotter,' Minor said. 

To conduct this research, the investigators used anonymized global sleep data collected from accelerometer-based sleep-tracking wristbands. The data included 7 million nightly sleep records from more than 47,000 adults across 68 countries. Pictured is the graphical abstract from the team's research paper

To conduct this research, the investigators used anonymized global sleep data collected from accelerometer-based sleep-tracking wristbands. The data included 7 million nightly sleep records from more than 47,000 adults across 68 countries. Pictured is the graphical abstract from the team's research paper

One important observation was

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