Air pollution might be linked to poor sleep, say researchers looking into the impact of toxic air on our slumbers. Looking tired can harm your social life, say researchers. The study explored the proportion of time participants spent asleep in bed at night compared with being awake – a measure known as sleep efficiency.
The results reveal that greater exposure to nitrogen dioxide and small particulates known as PM 2.5s are linked with a greater chance of having low sleep efficiency. That, researchers say, could be down to the impact of air pollution on the body.
“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,” said Martha Billings, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington and co-author of the research.