College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University New York, 2800 Victory Blvd., 4S-108, Staten Island, NY, 10314, USA.
Yale School of Nursing, Orange, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 21;13(1):10061. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-37111-2.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program reports that the frequency and intensity of extreme heat are increasing globally. Studies of the impact of climate change on child health often exclude sleep, despite its importance for healthy growth and development. To address this gap in the literature, we studied the impact of unusually high temperatures in the summer of 2022 on infants' sleep. Sleep was assessed objectively using Nanit camera monitors in infants' homes. Generally, sleep was not impacted when temperatures stayed below 88° but was negatively impacted when temperatures reached over 100°. Compared to non-heatwave nights, infants had less total sleep, less efficient sleep, took longer to fall asleep, had more fragmented sleep, and parents' visits were more frequent during the night. Following peaks in temperature, sleep metrics rebounded to better than average compared to non-peak nights, suggesting that infants compensated for disrupted sleep by sleeping more and with fewer interruptions once the temperature dropped below 85°. Increased instances of disrupted sleep in infancy have important implications for psychological health and development. Climate disruptions such as heat waves that create occasional or ongoing sleep disruptions can leave infants vulnerable and unprepared for learning.
美国全球变化研究计划报告称，极端高温的频率和强度在全球范围内正在增加。尽管睡眠对健康成长和发育很重要，但气候变化对儿童健康影响的研究往往忽略了睡眠。为了填补这一文献空白，我们研究了 2022 年夏季异常高温对婴儿睡眠的影响。使用 Nanit 摄像头监测器在婴儿家中对睡眠进行客观评估。一般来说，当温度低于 88 度时，睡眠不会受到影响，但当温度达到 100 度以上时，睡眠就会受到负面影响。与非热浪之夜相比，婴儿的总睡眠时间更少，睡眠效率更低，入睡时间更长，睡眠更碎片化，父母夜间的探访也更频繁。在温度达到峰值后，与非峰值夜晚相比，睡眠指标反弹到平均水平以上，这表明一旦温度降至 85 度以下，婴儿就会通过增加睡眠时间和减少中断来弥补睡眠中断。婴儿睡眠中断次数的增加对心理健康和发育有重要影响。像热浪这样偶尔或持续扰乱睡眠的气候扰乱会使婴儿变得脆弱，对学习毫无准备。
