How Does Air Pollution Affect Sleep?
Air pollution significantly impacts human health, with poor-quality air linked to respiratory diseases and lung cancer.
Air pollution is also linked to low sleep quality, with people living in high levels of air pollution 60% more likely to sleep poorly.
The primary pollutants are particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) because there are no known levels of minimum safe exposure.
Air pollution is such a problem that the UK government lists it as the most significant environmental risk to public health. It has set emission reduction targets for fine particulates, looking for a 55% reduction by 2020 and 73% by 2030.
It’s also critical to consider indoor air pollution, especially when spending more time at home following the coronavirus pandemic.
Air pollution and sleep quality
High levels of air pollution causes upper airway irritation, which most often manifests as a stuffy nose and sneezing and coughing fits.
It also exacerbates AR, asthma, bronchitis, and COPD, acting as a trigger for respiratory problems.
These irritations can keep anyone awake and reduce sleep duration, interrupting a person’s sleeping pattern and body clock.
Air pollution is associated with habitual snoring in children and adults. Although most people think of snoring as trivial, it can devastate sleep quality for you and your partner.
Additionally, people are more likely to develop sleep apnoea living in high air pollution, with a 5 μg/m3 greater annual PM 2.5 exposure associated with 60% greater odds of sleep apnoea (nearly every big city meets this criterion).
What causes local air pollution?
Health experts are primarily concerned with particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions, deemed unsafe at any level.
Emissions from passenger cars, trucks and buses, power plants, and off-road equipment are the primary sources of NO2. You are more likely exposed to high levels of NO2 living near busy roads and working in industrial environments.
Particulate matter examples include soot, smoke, ash, dust, vapour, pollens, mould spores, builder’s dust, and rubber from car tyres.
What causes indoor air pollution?
While outdoor air pollution is a severe health concern, indoor air pollution also contributes to health problems like respiratory diseases.
The truth is that our appliances, cleaning products, and cooling systems have emissions that can trigger allergies and make us poorly.
Here are the primary sources of indoor air pollution:
- CO, NO2, and particulates from domestic appliances (heaters, stoves, fires, ovens, washing machines, dryers)
- VOCs from cleaning and personal care products, paints, building materials, and mattresses (if you are concerned about mattress pollution, look at natural mattresses)
- Smoke and second-hand smoke (including vaping)
Radon exposure – radon is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. It comes from the ground and is not usually a problem outside, but indoors it can build up to dangerous levels and cause lung disease.
How to improve air quality at home
Other than wearing an N95/N99 face mask outdoors to stop the particulate matter from entering your lungs, there is little you can do to prevent outdoor air pollution from affecting you other than minimising your contribution to it.
The most significant improvements can be made indoors in your home and workplace. Here’s what we recommend to improve air quality:
- Buy an air purifier with a HEPA filter – HEPA filters catch 99.7% of airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm), removing dust, pollen, dander, mould spores, and other allergens from the air.
- Buy an air purifier with a carbon filter – carbon filters do things HEPA filters can’t, like catch smoke, fumes, vapours, and VOCs. They are usually paired with a HEPA filter, although these air purifiers are more expensive.
- Get a chemical-free mattress – the mattress you sleep on can contribute to indoor air pollution with off-gassing (a normal post-manufacturing process). A chemical-free mattress like the Millbrook Beds Lavish is ideal.
- Open windows at low traffic times – opening windows in the morning before the rush hour is best to benefit from clean air. You should close windows at peak times if you live in a city or near motorways.