CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 471Climate Change and Health ImpactsSleep and related disordersCircadian rhythm and melatonin

Nighttime temperature and human sleep loss in a changing climate

Open access
Obradovich, Nick, Migliorini, Robyn, Mednick, Sara C., Fowler, James H.·2017·Science Advances
DOI 10.1126/sciadv.1601555PMC PMC5446217
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Analysis of reported sleep difficulties indicates that increases in nighttime temperatures reduce human sleep quality.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/sciadv.1601555

Cites

11 of 11 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • High ambient temperatures are associated with worse sleep quantity and quality.

    “High ambient temperatures are associated with worse sleep quantity and quality. 101–106”

    From The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action (2024) · cites this paper as [101]

    The Results (Main effect; page unavailable) link warmer nighttime temperatures to more self-reported nights of insufficient sleep and describe the measure as relevant to sleep quality. The Discussion (page unavailable) cautions that the study did not measure nightly sleep duration and that reports of insufficient sleep may reflect fatigue rather than actual sleep loss. Thus, the source supports an association with perceived sleep insufficiency, but not a separate finding of worse sleep quantity. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 32

  1. [2]Gottlieb D. J., Punjabi N. M., Newman A. B., Resnick H. E., Redline S., Baldwin C. M., Nieto F. J., Association of sleep time with diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance. Arch. Intern. Med. 165, 863– 867 (2005). 15851636
  2. [5]Waters F., Bucks R. S., Neuropsychological effects of sleep loss: Implication for neuropsychologists. J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc. 17, 571– 586 (2011). 21554786
  3. [6]Kräuchi K., The thermophysiological cascade leading to sleep initiation in relation to phase of entrainment. Sleep Med. Rev. 11, 439– 451 (2007). 17764994
  4. [8]Yetish G., Kaplan H., Gurven M., Wood B., Pontzer H., Manger P. R., Wilson C., McGregor R., Siegel J. M., Natural sleep and its seasonal variations in three pre-industrial societies. Curr. Biol. 25, 2862– 2868 (2015). 26480842 PMC4720388
  5. [9]Okamoto-Mizuno K., Mizuno K., Michie S., Maeda A., Iizuka S., Effects of humid heat exposure on human sleep stages and body temperature. Sleep 22, 767– 773 (1999). 10505822
  6. [10]McDermott C. M., LaHoste G. J., Chen C., Musto A., Bazan N. G., Magee J. C., Sleep deprivation causes behavioral, synaptic, and membrane excitability alterations in hippocampal neurons. J. Neurosci. 23, 9687– 9695 (2003). 14573548 PMC6740462
  7. [11]Schwarz P., Graham W., Li F., Locke M., Peever J., Sleep deprivation impairs functional muscle recovery following injury. Sleep Med. 14, e262 (2013).
  8. [13]Bryant P. A., Trinder J., Curtis N., Sick and tired: Does sleep have a vital role in the immune system? Nat. Rev. Immunol. 4, 457– 467 (2004). 15173834
  9. [15]Meier-Ewert H. K., Ridker P. M., Rifai N., Regan M. M., Price N. J., Dinges D. F., Mullington J. M., Effect of sleep loss on C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker of cardiovascular risk. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 43, 678– 683 (2004). 14975482
  10. [17]Pilcher J. J., Huffcutt A. J., Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: A meta-analysis. Sleep 19, 318– 326 (1996). 8776790
  11. [18]Pigeon W. R., Pinquart M., Conner K., Meta-analysis of sleep disturbance and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. J. Clin. Psychiatry 73, e1160– e1167 (2012). 23059158
  12. [19]Kräuchi K., Cajochen C., Werth E., Wirz-Justice A., Functional link between distal vasodilation and sleep-onset latency? Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 278, R741– R748 (2000). 10712296
  13. [22]Oswald A. J., Wu S., Objective confirmation of subjective measures of human well-being: Evidence from the U.S.A. Science 327, 576– 579 (2010). 20019249
  14. [23]Nelson D. E., Holtzman D., Bolen J., Stanwyck C. A., Mack K. A., Reliability and validity of measures from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Soz. Praeventivmed. 46, S3– S42 (2001). 11851091
  15. [24]Jungquist C. R., Mund J., Aquilina A. T., Klingman K., Pender J., Ochs-Balcom H., van Wijngaarden E., Dickerson S. S., Validation of the behavioral risk factor surveillance system sleep questions. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 12, 301– 310 (2016). 26446246 PMC4773626
  16. [25]Strine T. W., Chapman D. P., Associations of frequent sleep insufficiency with health-related quality of life and health behaviors. Sleep Med. 6, 23– 27 (2005). 15680291
  17. [30]J. M. Wooldridge, Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (MIT Press, 2010).
  18. [34]Burke M., Hsiang S., Miguel E., Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production. Nature 527, 235– 239 (2015). 26503051
  19. [35]Carleton T. A., Hsiang S. M., Social and economic impacts of climate. Science 353, aad9837 (2016). 27609899
  20. [36]Hsiang S. M., Burke M., Miguel E., Quantifying the influence of climate on human conflict. Science 341, 1235367 (2013). 24031020
  21. [37]P. Good, Permutation, Parametric and Bootstrap Tests of Hypotheses (Springer, 2005).
  22. [38]Fletcher A., van den Heuve C., Dawson D., Sleeping with an electric blanket: Effects on core temperature, sleep, and melatonin in young adults. Sleep 22, 313– 318 (1999). 10341381
  23. [39]Davis L. W., Gertler P. J., Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy use under global warming. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A. 112, 5962– 5967 (2015). 25918391 PMC4434761
  24. [40]Lushington K., Dawson D., Lack L., Core body temperature is elevated during constant wakefulness in elderly poor sleepers. Sleep 23, 504– 510 (2000). 10875557
  25. [46]Basu R., Samet J. M., Relation between elevated ambient temperature and mortality: A review of the epidemiologic evidence. Epidemiol. Rev. 24, 190– 202 (2002). 12762092
  26. [47]Deschenes O., Temperature, human health, and adaptation: A review of the empirical literature. Energy Econ. 46, 606– 619 (2014).
  27. [48]Hajat S., Armstrong B. G., Gouveia N., Wilkinson P., Mortality displacement of heat-related deaths: A comparison of Delhi, São Paulo, and London. Epidemiology 16, 613– 620 (2005). 16135936
  28. [49]Gething P. W., Smith D. L., Patil A. P., Tatem A. J., Snow R. W., Hay S. I., Climate change and the global malaria recession. Nature 465, 342– 345 (2010). 20485434 PMC2885436
  29. [50]Guo Y., Gasparrini A., Armstrong B., Li S., Tawatsupa B., Tobias A., Lavigne E., de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho M., Leone M., Pan X., Tong S., Tian L., Kim H., Hashizume M., Honda Y., Guo Y. L., Wu C. F., Punnasiri K., Yi S.-M., Michelozzi P., Saldiva P. H., Williams G., Global variation in the effects of ambient temperature on mortality: A systematic evaluation. Epidemiology 25, 781– 789 (2014). 25166878 PMC4180721
  30. [52]Hsiang S. M., Meng K. C., Cane M. A., Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate. Nature 476, 438– 441 (2011). 21866157
  31. [53]Larrick R. P., Timmerman T. A., Carton A. M., Abrevaya J., Temper, temperature, and temptation: Heat-related retaliation in baseball. Psychol. Sci. 22, 423– 428 (2011). 21350182
  32. [55]Anderson M., Carmichael C., Murray V., Dengel A., Swainson M., Defining indoor heat thresholds for health in the UK. Perspect. Public Health 133, 158– 164 (2013). 22833542

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Obradovich, N., Migliorini, R., Mednick, S. C., & Fowler, J. H.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of California, Riverside (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Obradovich, Nick
ORCID
Venue
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published
2017-05-05
Volume
3
Issue
5
Pages
e1601555-e1601555
ISSN
2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.1601555
PMC
PMC5446217
OpenAlex
W2617878790
Cited by
471
References
11
Citations by year
2026: 103 · 2025: 97 · 2024: 71 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 2
FWCI
9.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
National Science Foundation (ID0ENSBI17366, DGE0707423; TG-SES130013, ID0EDZBI17367, DGE1247398)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
Keywords
night temperature, sleep deprivation, insufficient sleep, climate change, climate change projections, ambient temperature, sleep regulation, low-income populations, older adults, seasonal variation, climate model projections
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Female, Hot Temperature, Humans, Male, Models, Biological, Seasons, Sleep, United States, Climate Change

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review