Populations in southern India among most affected by sleep loss due to climate change, says study
A study by Climate Central indicates that rising nighttime temperatures are contributing to increased sleep loss across India, particularly in southern states. The research uses a temperature-sleep model to compare data from the 1970s to the present day.
Why it matters
Climate change impacts public health in non-obvious ways, such as sleep deprivation, which has long-term consequences for productivity and well-being.
Rising temperatures are leading to an increase in the amount of sleep loss across populations in Tamil Nadu and India, a recent study by ‘Climate Central,’ a non-profit organisation has highlighted.
According to their analysis from 11 cities in Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Kallakurichi, Madurai, Salem, Theni, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Tiruppur, the researchers estimate that sleep loss, caused by climate change, has increased from anywhere between 4 per cent to 7 per cent in each of the 11 cities in Tamil Nadu between 1970-1975 and 2025-2025. In Puducherry, sleep loss increased by three percent during the same comparable periods.
The research studied sleep loss caused by climate change from across 1,338 cities worldwide, including 107 cities in Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka, Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh being analysed in India.
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