Populations in southern India among most affected by sleep loss due to climate change, says study
Rising temperatures are leading to an increase in the amount of sleep loss across populations in Tamil Nadu and India, a recent study by ‘Climate
Rising temperatures are leading to an increase in the amount of sleep loss across populations in Tamil Nadu and India, a recent study by ‘Climate Central,’ a non-profit organisation has highlighted. According to their analysis from 11 cities in Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Kallakurichi, Madurai, Salem, Theni, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Tiruppur, the researchers estimate that sleep loss, caused by climate change, has increased from anywhere between 4 per cent to 7 per cent in each of the 11 cities in Tamil Nadu between 1970-1975 and 2025-2025. In Puducherry, sleep loss increased by three percent during the same comparable periods. The research studied sleep loss caused by climate change from across 1,338 cities worldwide, including 107 cities in Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka, Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh being analysed in India. In response to questions from The Hindu, Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central, explained the methodology used by the researchers to estimate the sleep loss of people living across the world.
“Minor et al. In their 2022 study on how rising temperatures erode human sleep globally built a temperature-sleep model using sleep data from a recent time period. Our analysis applies the published model to night time temperatures from 2020-2025 and 1970-1975 to estimate expected sleep loss under those temperature conditions. They estimate the effect of night time temperature on sleep duration using a fixed-effects model that compares changes within the same individuals over time while controlling for other weather, seasonal, location, and time factors. We apply that published relationship to observed and counterfactual night time temperatures. Our analysis doesn’t explain all sleep loss from all causes. It estimates the sleep loss associated with higher night time temperatures, and the climate-attributed portion reflects the difference between observed night time temperatures and night time temperatures in a world without human-caused warming,” said Dr. Dahl in an email exchange. The researchers note that Southern India has emerged as a hotspot for sleep disruption, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana recording the highest overall sleep loss from all factors, climate change included, with high overnight temperatures being linked to an increase in the risk of stroke, other cardiovascular conditions and mortality.
The BriefWire