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Sleep Stealer: Climate Change Robs You of Sleep
15 Jul
Summary
- Warming nights steal nearly a full week of sleep annually.
- Climate change-linked sleep loss has doubled since the 1970s.
- Poor sleep impacts mood, cognition, productivity, and health.
Climate change is significantly impacting global sleep patterns, with rising nighttime temperatures leading to substantial sleep deprivation. An analysis of 1,338 cities found that individuals lose nearly 56 hours of sleep annually due to warm nights.
Of this loss, over six hours are directly attributable to human-caused climate change. This climate-related sleep debt has more than doubled since the early 1970s in most analyzed cities.
Cities in the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Africa report the most severe sleep losses. For example, people in Saudi Arabia lose between 55 to 87 hours of sleep per year, with 12 to 16 hours linked to climate change.
Health consequences of insufficient sleep are considerable, affecting mood, cognitive performance, productivity, and long-term physical and immune health. The elderly and individuals in lower-middle-income countries are disproportionately affected.
Access to cooling solutions like air conditioning is unequal, with only 35% of households globally having access as of 2021. This disparity exacerbates sleep loss risks in hotter, less affluent regions, though even in cooler climates, hotter nights can still disrupt sleep.
