Climate change is increasingly disrupting people’s sleep.
High nighttime temperatures led to 5 per cent more hours of sleep lost worldwide over the past five years compared to the period between 1986 and 2005, according to the latest edition of the Lancet’s study of climate and health.
It marks the first time the prestigious medical journal has examined this metric. Sleep loss peaked in 2023, the hottest year on record, when there was a 6 per cent rise.
The eighth annual Lancet Countdown on health and climate change report, authored by 122 global experts, found that high temperatures, drought and heavy rainfall are increasingly impacting people’s health.
In 2023, a record 512 billion potential hours of labour were lost globally due to high temperatures. Heat-related deaths in people over the age of 65 reached the highest levels on record, 167 per cent higher in the 1990s.
“This isn’t just about extreme weather events”, said Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist at the World Health Organization. “This is about every week, every month of the year, and the impact on all of our health.”