The Effects of High-Temperature Weather on Human Sleep Quality and Appetite

• Main Authors: Guozhong Zheng, Ke Li, Yajing Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: high-temperature weather; sleep quality; appetite; meal time; meal weight
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/2/270

High-temperature weather appears in high frequency, big strength, and long duration in the summer. It is therefore important to study the effects of high-temperature weather on sleep quality and appetite. Ten healthy college students were selected as subjects. The experiment conditions were divided by the daily maximum temperature into 28 °C, 32 °C, 36 °C, and 38 °C. The objective sleep quality was measured by an intelligent sleep monitoring belt, and the subjective sleep quality was measured by a questionnaire survey. The subjective appetites were assessed by a visual analog scale (VAS), and the objective appetites were assessed by the meal weight and the meal time. For sleep quality, the objective results indicated that the sleep quality at 32 °C was the best, followed by 28 °C, while the sleep quality at 36 °C and 38 °C was the worst. Significant effects were mainly reflected in sleep duration and shallow sleep. The subjective results showed that temperature had significant effects on sleep calmness, difficulty in falling asleep, sleep satisfaction, and sleep adequateness. For appetite, the VAS results indicated that high temperatures mainly led to a reduction of appetite at lunch time. The meal weights of lunch were larger than those of supper except for 28 °C, and the meal time of lunch and supper was longer than that of breakfast. The meal time of lunch was longer than that of supper except for 36 °C. This paper can provide a study method and reference data for the sleep quality and appetite of human in high-temperature weather.