Could the Climate Crisis be Affecting Sleep Times?

When we think about the environmental impacts of climate change, most of us think of apocalyptic scenes such as skies full of smoke from forest fires, hurricanes hitting the coasts, rising sea levels and floods.

What comes to our mind the least is the impact of climate change in smaller and daily ways… Perhaps one of the most overlooked effects is the damage climate change does to our sleep. Did you know that human sleep is highly regulated by temperature? We discussed in this article whether climate change may disrupt sleep through increases in nighttime temperatures.

How sleep works

Sleep is vital for the healthy functioning of a person’s body. However, research shows that approximately one-third of adults have sleep problems. This is an indication that inadequate sleep has actually become an urgent public health problem. Poor sleep harms both psychological and cognitive functions by increasing susceptibility to diseases.

Regular and sufficient sleep plays a very important role in protecting and regenerating the human body. For example; At a physiological level, sleep loss can interfere with the repair of skeletal muscles and the efficient removal of waste from the brain. At the same time, inadequate sleep can impair the functioning of the immune system, dysregulate metabolism, and increase systemic inflammation in the body.

“Temperature”, one of the factors affecting sleep, plays an inseparable role from all these. Sleep-wake cycles are governed by circadian rhythms, automatic biological processes that follow a 24-hour period. Thermoregulation, which means the regulation of body temperature, is a critical determinant of both falling asleep and staying asleep. As the body prepares for sleep, dilation of blood vessels in the skin facilitates heat loss and produces an important signal for sleep onset: a drop in core body temperature. The core temperature drop is preceded by an increase in temperature in distal areas (e.g., hands and feet). Heat loss from distal skin temperature zones also helps cool the core in the evening and early morning. When core body temperature drops to initiate sleep, it remains low throughout the night and rises again shortly before waking. This is where ambient temperatures can disrupt normal sleep physiology by affecting circadian body temperatures.

temperature and sleep

Some researchers studying the link between sleep and climate change have found that the effect of temperature is twice as large among older adults and women, and three times greater for those living in low-income countries. Moreover, although people living in hot climates are expected to adapt to even hotter climates, it has been stated that these people suffer from more insomnia as the temperature increases. Based on this, we can say that humans have limited abilities to adapt their sleep to a warming climate.

Worsening air quality and sleep

Air quality is another area that quickly impacts sleep quality and overall health. Forest fires occur every year in our country, and as the fires continue, the air quality deteriorates and many people’s sleep deteriorates.

As forest fires cover increasingly larger areas around the world, smoke-filled skies further reduce air quality. At times the sun is almost invisible through the clouds created by the fire. This lack of contrast between daylight and night darkness can disrupt circadian rhythms, internal biological clocks, and the cues that signal to our body that it is time to wake up or go to bed.

Future research needs to be detailed on the biological mechanisms responsible for these temperature-related changes, knowing that warming will increase further. For now, you can choose lightweight pajamas to sleep better on warmer nights, use thinner bedding in the summer, and purchase a mattress and pillow with cooling features.