Extreme changes in climate have had a profound effect on human life. Numerous studies have looked at how severe weather events affect economic and social health on a large scale. Climate change has a major impact on human routines, including the behavioral, mental, and physical consequences necessary for good health.
Rising atmospheric temperatures are having a negative effect on people’s sleep around the world, according to research recently published in the May 20 issue of Forest Earth Journal.
How does climate change affect people’s sleep?
Simply put, climate change is reducing people’s sleep. According to researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who led the study, by 2099, cold temperatures could reduce each person’s sleep by between 50 and 58 hours a year. The researchers also found that sleep deprivation due to temperature could have a significant impact on residents of low-income countries, as well as the elderly, adults, and women.
Rising heat is increasing the incidence of deaths and hospitalizations. The fact that human performance is affected has been known for a long time. However, the biological and behavioral effects of the effects have not been fully elucidated. According to a recent self-report from the United States, a person’s sleep quality deteriorates during hot weather. However, it is still unclear how temperature fluctuations may affect sleep for people living in the global climate, according to the study.
Researchers have used anonymous global sleep data from accelerometer-based sleep-tracking wristbands. An accelerometer is a device used to measure the vibrations and movements of the body. Global Sleep Data includes 7 million nightly sleep records from more than 47,000 adults in 68 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
Read more: Climate change is reducing people’s sleep, find out in detail
What happens on a very hot night?
Studies show that on a very warm night, the average sleep is less than 14 minutes. Warm night temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius or 86 degrees Fahrenheit. As the temperature rises, the chances of sleeping less than seven hours also increase.
Previous research in the sleep lab also found that when the ambient temperature is too hot or too cold, both humans and animals sleep poorly. But this new research is limited to how people behave in the real world. Researchers have discovered that people change their temperature to make their sleep even more comfortable.
According to practitioners, under normal living conditions, people adapt better to cold outside temperatures than hot conditions. Also, people in developing countries seem to be more affected by these changes.
The increasing prevalence of air conditioning in developed countries could play a significant role in this. But scientists have not been able to determine the exact cause. Because they had no data on air conditioning in the subjects. Researchers have found strong evidence that the effects of rising temperatures on sleep loss are uneven around the world. Therefore, new research must consider vulnerable populations, especially those living in the hottest and historically poorest regions of the world.
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