Abstract:

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the daily minimum air temperature and human-biometeorological variables, as well as their day-to-day changes, on sleep disturbances (SD) in the inhabitants of Athens, Greece. The SD dataset used for the analysis included the daily records of the psychiatric emergency unit of the Athens University Medical School for the years 1989 (with mild thermal load) and 1994 (with heavy thermal load). The meteorological variables for the estimation of the thermal indices were recorded by the meteorological station of Hellenikon, which is located at the headquarters of the Hellenic National Weather Service. The mean radiant temperature (T mrt) and the thermal indices predicted mean vote (PMV), physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and standard effective temperature (SET*) have been analyzed. The first step was to assess the SD frequencies as a function of the meteorological and human-biometeorological variables on the basis of 10-day intervals to determine the influence of the examined variables on SD. The daily SD records were included as Poisson random variables in the applied Generalized Linear Models (GLM). The extracted results suggested that a considerable increase in SD existed in 1994 compared to 1989. This was due to the many consecutive days with heavy thermal load (PET >35°C and Tmin >23°C) in 1994 compared to the lack of such days in 1989. Furthermore, statistically significant (p<0.01) positive relationships were found between minimum air temperature, all thermal indices and SD. © SAGE Publications 2008.

Notes:

Cited By :9Export Date: 2 November 2015CODEN: IBENFCorrespondence Address: Nastos, P. T.; Department of Geography and Climatology, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis GR 157 84 Athens, Greece; email: nastos@geol.uoa.grReferences: Faust, V., Hole, G., Weather-dependent sleep disturbances in psychiatric patients (1972) Psychiatr Clin, 5 (5), pp. 265-288. , Basel );Hentschel, H.D., Climate, weather, noise and sleep disturbances (Klima, wetter, larm und schlafstotorungen) (1976) Diagnostik, 9 (16), pp. 527-529; Whitton, J.L., Kramer, P., Eastwood, R., Weather and infradian rhythms in self-reports of health, sleep and mood measures (1982) J Psychosom Res, 26 (2), pp. 231-235; Pandey, J., Grandner, M., Crittenden, C., Smith, M.T., Perlis, M.L., Meteorologic factors and subjective sleep continuity: A preliminary evaluation (2005) Int J Biometeorol, 49, pp. 152-155; Sher, L., The effects of natural and man-made electromagnetic fields on mood and behavior: The role of sleep disturbances (2000) Med Hypotheses, 54 (4), pp. 630-633; Libert, J.P., Bach, V., Johnson, L.C., Ehrhart, J., Wittersheim, G., Keller, D., Relative and combined effects of heat and noise exposure on sleep in humans (1991) Sleep, 14 (1), pp. 24-31; Muzet, A., Libert, J.P., Candas, V., Ambient temperature and human sleep (1984) Experientia, 40 (5), pp. 425-429; Glotzbach, S.F., Heller, H.C., Temperature regulation (1999) Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, pp. 289-304. , Kryger MH, Roth T, Dement WC (eds), Saunders, New York; Haskell, E., Palca, J.W., Walker, J.M., Berger, R.J., Heller, H.C., The effects of high and low ambient temperatures on human sleep stages (1981) Electro Clin Neurophysiol, 51, pp. 494-501; Parmeggiani, P.L., Influence of the temperature signal on sleep in mammals (2000) Biol Signal Recept, 9 (6), pp. 279-282; Candas, V., Libert, J.P., Muzet, A., Heating and cooling stimulations during SWS and REM sleep in man (1982) J Therm Biol, 7 (3), pp. 155-158; Teramoto, Y., Tokura, H., Ioki, I., Suho, S., Inoshiri, R., Masuda, M., The effect of room temperature on rectal temperature during night sleep (1998) J Therm Biol, 23 (1), pp. 15-21; Karacan, I., Thornby, J.I., Anch, A.M., Effects of high ambient temperature on sleep in young men (1978) Aviat Space Envir Md, 49 (7), pp. 855-860; Okamoto-Mizuno, K., Mizuno, K., Michie, S., Maeda, A., Lizuka, S., Effects of humid heat exposure on human sleep stages and body temperature (1999) Sleep, 22 (6), pp. 767-773; Okamoto-Mizuno, K., Tsuzuki, K., Mizuno, K., Effects of mild heat exposure on sleep stages and body temperature in older men (2004) Int J Biometeorol, 49 (1), pp. 32-36; Parmeggiani, P.L., Interaction between sleep and thermoregulation: An aspect of the control of behavioural states (1987) Sleep, 10, pp. 426-435; Okamoto-Mizuno, K., Tsuzuki, K., Mizuno, K., Effects of humid heat exposure in later segments on sleep stages and body temperature in humans (2005) Int J Biometeorol, 49 (4), pp. 232-237; Libert, J.P., Di Nisi, J., Fukuda, H., Muzet, A., Ehrhart, J., Amoros, C., Effect of continuous heat exposure on sleep stages in humans (1988) Sleep, 11, pp. 195-209; Höppe, P., The physiological equivalent temperature - A universal index for the biometeorological assessment of the thermal environment (1999) Int J Biometeorol, 43, pp. 71-75; Fanger, P.O., (1972) Thermal Comfort, , New York, McGraw Hill; Jendritzky, G., Menz, G., Schirmer, H., Schmidt-Kessen, W., Methodik zur raumbezogenen Bewertung der thermischen Komponente im Bioklima des Menschen (Fortgeschriebenes Klima-Michel-Modell) (1990) Beitr Akad Raumforsch Landesplan, (114); Gagge, A.P., Fobelets, A.P., Berglund, L.G., A standard predictive index of human response to the thermal environment (1986) ASHRAE Trans, 92, pp. 709-731; Matzarakis, A., Rutz, F., Mayer, H., Estimation and calculation of the mean radiant temperature within urban structures: In de Dear RJ Selected Papers from the Conference ICB-ICUC'99; Vdi, (1992) Interactions between Atmosphere and Surfaces. Calculation of Short-wave and Long-wave Radiation, , Beuth, Berlin; Vdi, (1998) Methods for the Human-biometerological Assessment of Climate and Air Hygiene for Urban and Regional Planning, , Beuth, Berlin; Matzarakis, A., Mayer, H., Another kind of environmental stress: Thermal stress (1998) WHO Newsletter, 18, pp. 7-10; McGullagh, P., Nelder, J.A., (1997) Generalized Linear Models, p. 450. , 2nd edn, Chapman & Hall; Nedler, J.A., Wedderburn, R.W.M., Generalized linear models (1972) J Roy Stat Soc Ser a, 135, pp. 370-384; Sagawa, S., Shiraki, K., Mohamed, K., Miki, K., Sweating and cardiovascular responses of aged men to heat exposure (1988) J Gerontol, 43, pp. 1-M8; Inoue, Y., Nakao, M., Araki, T., Murakami, H., Regional differences in the sweating responses of older and younger men (1991) J Appl Physiol, 71, pp. 2453-2459; Inoue, Y., Longitudinal effects of age on heat-activated sweat gland density and output in healthy active older men (1996) Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol, 74, pp. 72-77; Hellonrf, Lindar, Observationontheactivity of sweat glands with special reference to the influence of ageing (1958) J Physiol, 133, pp. 132-144; Yousef, M.K., Dill, D.B., Vitez, T.S., Hillyard, S.D., Goldman, A.S., Thermoregulatory responses to desert heat: Age, race and sex (1984) J Gerontol, 39, pp. 406-414

Publisher's Version