Sleep and global warming

Thanks to global warming, sleep quality will get progressively worse over time:  that is the conclusion of a broad study carried out by the University of Harvard, which illustrates how, by the middle of the current century, insomnia caused by higher temperatures will be twice as common a problem as it is today.

This does not only concern our future though, because between 2002 and 2011, researches carried out a survey involving over 750,000 Americans (who were asked how many nights they had not slept well), from which it emerged that in nine years, the amount of inadequate sleep had risen on average by three nights per month for every 100 people.

The causes of this can be summarised as follows:

• on one hand the temperatures of the entire planet have risen by an average of one degree compared to the pre-industrial period;
• nocturnal temperatures tend to rise more rapidly than daytime ones.

The real upset is that by 2050 (approximately), sleepless nights will rise by 6 per month for every 100 individuals, making things even more difficult for all those families unable (for financial reasons) to equip themselves with air-conditioning or other systems to cool their homes.

To get a clearer picture of the proportions of this situation, we should also mention that all this can only lead to a gradual deterioration in the performance and health of human beings:  those who do not get enough sleep, as well as not being very alert during the day and being less efficient at work, have a higher risk of falling victim to malaise and illness.

States of depression, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases are just some of the many ailments which we risk through lack of sleep.  As well as compromising out physical and mental health, not getting enough sleep also has a negative effect on inter-personal relationships (people who are less alert behave more recklessly).

These are the main consequences of lack of sleep caused by global warming: consequences which could be at least postponed if we paid greater attention to the wellbeing of our planet and avoided where possible creating the various types of waste (energy, food, water etc.).

Translated by Joanne Beckwith