Scientists exploring how to beat heat for better sleep

Cool showers and less coffee or alcohol: sleep quality is being harmed by hotter temperatures caused by climate change, and scientists say we need to learn how to adapt.

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The human brain is very sensitive to heat, with higher temperatures raising the body’s central thermostat and activating stress systems.

Scientists are increasingly exploring mechanisms that can help the body adapt to rising temperatures affecting our sleep and leading to health complications.

"Rising temperatures induced by climate change and urbanisation pose a planetary threat to human sleep, and therefore health, performance, and wellbeing," according to a 2024 review of scientific literature published in the journal Sleep Medicine. Humans lost an average of 44 hours of sleep a year during the first two decades of the 21st century compared to earlier periods, according to a 2022 study published in the journal One Earth, which linked the data to rising temperatures.