Climate change could be stopping you from getting a good night’s sleep, according to a new study.
Researchers have linked higher nighttime temperatures to shorter sleep times and lower sleep quality – particularly among those with chronic health conditions.
A new study from scientists at the University of Southern California found that warm weather can disturb sleep in several ways, including by preventing the body from cooling down, triggering a stress response, and reducing time spent in deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
The findings, published in the journal Environment International, said that a 10-degree Celsius increase in daytime temperature was associated with 2.19 minutes of lost sleep, while a 10-degree nighttime temperature increase was associated with a loss of 2.63 minutes.
Rising temperatures were also associated with more disrupted sleep throughout the night and more time spent awake in bed.
“We already know that when there are extreme heat events, more people die from cardiovascular disease and pulmonary disease. What will this mean for population health as global temperatures continue to rise?” said Jiawen Liao, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and first author of the study.
The study analysed data from 14,232 US adults collected between 2010 and 2022. Researchers looked at participant’s demographic, socioeconomic and health information, as well as their FitBit data, to evaluate more than 12 million nights of sleep.
They also examined eight million nights of data on sleep stages and how often sleep was interrupted, linking this to location and meteorological data to find out whether sleep patterns were linked to changing temperatures.
The were greater among women, people of Hispanic ethnicity, people with chronic diseases, and those with a lower socioeconomic status, the study authors said.
They warned that poor sleep itself can increase the risk of a number of health problems, including heart and respiratory conditions and mental health concerns.
“This may seem like a small amount, but when it adds up across millions of people, the total impact is enormous,” Mr Liao said.
“This work is an important step toward understanding how sleep is affected by environmental stressors like heat, which can increase the risk of disease and even death. If we can help people sleep better, we may be able to reduce illness and save lives.”
