Climate change and sleep: A systematic review of the literature and conceptual framework

Abstract

From disaster related stress causing insomnia, to poor air quality causing sleep related breathing problems, climate change poses a potentially serious threat to human sleep. We conducted a systematic review evaluating the relationship between climate change and human sleep in the PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases from 1980 through 2017 following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Inclusion criteria included epidemiologic studies published in English that reported observational population data on human sleep and its relationship to climate change, temperature, extreme weather events and climate related disasters (e.g. hurricanes, floods, and wildfires). We excluded non-human studies, laboratory or experimental physiology studies, commentaries or letters, review articles, and articles on wind turbines. Using a systematic search strategy, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. Six studies related to the effects of rising temperature, seven studies related to extreme weather events, and three studies related to floods or wildfires. Diminished total sleep times and sleep disruption were most commonly reported, especially among the most vulnerable populations including the elderly and low-income; however, the body of evidence was limited and further well-designed human studies are clearly needed. We present a conceptual framework for identifying the emerging threats of climate change and understanding their respective effects on human sleep.

Keywords: Climate change; Floods; Hurricanes; Rising temperature; Sleep disruption; Sleep loss; Sleep thermoregulation; Systems framework; Wildfires.