22 May Did you sleep well this summer?
La Nina weather events in Australia often lead to cooler than average temperatures, and often lead to increased rain fall. We have had severe rainfalls in Brisbane recently, leading to severe flooding. We almost seem to have some form of wet weather every other week at the moment. However, the temperatures in Brisbane have felt much milder than other summers, which have actually helped us all sleep.
As we head towards our bed time and ultimately fall off to sleep, our core body temperatures drop. To help drop your body temperature, you may even stick a foot or two out from under the covers. But what happens on those hot nights when there is just no way to cool down?
Minor et al. recently published an article in the One Earth Journal looking at the impact of warmer temperatures on sleep, measured with wearable devices. Over 7 million sleep records from ~48000 individuals across 68 countries were compared to local daily meteorological data. They concluded that warmer weather does reduce the amount of sleep, primarily through delaying sleep onset. They noted that these effects were more pronounced in warmer climates, in poorer demographics and in elderly populations.
Thankfully Brisbane now heads towards the cooler months of the year, so our sleep times should improve. However, it is worth considering a plan to best manage your sleeping environment for when the warmer weather eventually rolls around again.
Here is the story from Newscientist that first drew our attention to this article:
Here is the original published article:
An article supporting temperature variance and sleep:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31105512/
An article discussing the temperature changes with La Nina in Australia:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a020.shtml