There’s No Place like Home: Integrating a Place-Based Approach to Understanding Sleep

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader There's No Place like Home: Integrating a Place-Based Approach to Understanding Sleep Via American Journal of Epidemiology - Advance Access Abstract Light exposure at night impedes sleep and shifts the circadian clock. An extensive body of literature has linked sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment with cardiac disease, cancer, mental health disorders, and other chronic illnesses, as well as more immediate risks, such as motor vehicle crashes and occupational injuries. In the current issue of the journal, Zhong et al. build on this literature, finding that in a cohort of 50,000 California teachers, artificial light at night, noise, greenspace, and air pollution were all associated with sleep disturbances.Light, noise, air pollution, and the lack of greenspace are problems inequitably distributed across the population, concentrated among vulnerable populations in inner cities. The current study provides novel data on the manner in which these local environmental exposures drive sleep deprivation. Future research should explore the degree to which place-based disparities in sleep in turn drive disparities in short and long-term health. Addressing home-based sleep disparities could be an avenue to addressing systemic racism and achieving environmental justice. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.