With the increase in temperatures, it is normal to start tossing and turning in bed, desperately searching for the cold side of the pillow or surrendering to the air conditioning at three in the morning because nothing cool comes in through the window. What until recently we considered a simple summer annoyance has become a measurable, quantifiable and science-backed phenomenon, since global warming is literally robbing us of hours of sleep.
It has been analyzed. This is not an exaggeration based on a few bad nights, but rather the scientific community has cross-referenced millions of biometric data with global weather records to confirm that nighttime heat is eroding our quality of life. This conclusion has not been reached with simple surveys, but rather A study has chosen to analyze more than 7 million sleep records obtained through activity bracelets in 68 countries.
The conclusion was that, as nighttime temperatures rise, the duration and quality of rest plummet. And it is the most normal thing, since our body needs to reduce its core temperature to initiate and maintain sleep and, when the outside environment is too warm, this physiological process is blocked.
More tests. Other research published in Naturethat analyzed 23 million days of sleep records put exact figures on the problem. Here they saw that, for every 10 °C increase in ambient temperature, sleep problems skyrocket, drastically reducing both the total duration of rest and, what is worse, the deep sleep phase, which is responsible for the physical and cognitive restoration of our body.
Many factors. Although the temperature increases for everyone equally, it does not affect us in the same way, as a review points out published in Sleep Medicine. One of their conclusions is that in older people the capacity for self-regulation is naturally lower, and that is why it is much more difficult for an aging body to dissipate heat and adapt its core temperature, making them much more vulnerable to tropical nights.
Sex also influences, since studies indicate that the impact on sleep loss for each extra degree of temperature is significantly greater in women than in men, due in part to physiological differences in thermal regulation and hormonal factors.
Socially. If we cross all this data with the economic level, we can see that in developing regions the loss of sleep is much greater, which makes us revive the term “air conditioning gap.” And those who cannot afford cooling systems or live in areas with poor infrastructure suffer the impact of the heat to the fullest.
Climate change. We can’t just blame the summer, as organizations like Climate Central have started to calculate exactly how many of these hours of lost sleep bear the direct signature of anthropogenic climate change. Their recent analysis shows that global warming is multiplying the frequency of these abnormally warm nights, and it’s not just that it’s hot in July, but that nighttime minimum temperatures are rising at a faster rate than daytime maximums.
That is to say, we are facing a major public health problem, since chronic loss of sleep not only makes us feel bad the next day. It has been shown that not sleeping properly is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, cognitive decline, and an increase in work and traffic accidents.
Images | Ron Lach
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