Is air pollution keeping us awake?

Everyone occasionally struggles to get a good night’s sleep – perhaps being kept awake worries about work, or simply struggling to ‘switch off, according to Daily Mail.

But not many of us will have put our nocturnal worries down to air pollution.

However, a group of researchers now believe that the level of exposure with receive to harmful particles in the air we breathe may be linked to keeping us awake at night.

A study, measured how long participants spent asleep in bed each night and found that levels of sleep efficiency could be down to the impact of air pollution on the body.

 They found that the more exposure a person had to nitrogen oxide and particles named PM2.5s, the more chance they had of having a bad night’s sleep.

‘Your nose, your sinuses and the back of your throat can all be irritated by those pollutants so that can cause some sleep disruption as well as from breathing issues,’ Martha Billings, assistant professor and lead author, said.

‘Prior studies have shown that air pollution impacts heart health and affects breathing and lung function, but less is known about whether air pollution affects sleep.

 ‘We thought an effect was likely given that air pollution causes upper airway irritation, swelling and congestion, and may also affect the central nervous system and brain areas that control breathing patterns and sleep.

‘These new findings indicate the possibility that commonly experienced levels of air pollution not only affect heart and lung disease, but also sleep quality. 

‘Improving air quality may be one way to enhance sleep health and perhaps reduce health disparities.’

Researchers studied air pollution data over a five- year period, with 1,863 participants taking part.

They then calculated pollution levels in the home and used devices worn by the participants to on their wrists for a week and monitored their movement while they slept.

Dr Billings added: ‘These new findings indicate the possibility that commonly experienced levels of air pollution not only affect heart and lung disease, but also sleep quality. Improving air quality may be one way to enhance sleep health and perhaps reduce health disparities.’ 

N.H.Kh