Noise from aircraft at night is linked with disturbed sleep quality and sleep-wake cycle, a new study using movement trackers has shown. Environmental health experts at the University of Leicester combined measurements from activity monitors and self-reported sleep information for the first time to put together a more detailed picture of how aircraft noise impacts sleep, in the largest such study to date. The results, published in Environmental Health Perspectives , show that people exposed to higher levels of night-time aircraft noise experienced more restlessness during sleep and disruption in daily sleep rhythm, even if they had a full night's sleep.
The team was led from the University of Leicester's Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability and involved University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, University College London, Imperial College London and City St George's, University of London. They used the UK Biobank cohort study, a large UK study originally set up to examine links between genes and disease, to identify and analyze data from over 80,000 people living near four major airports (London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham) in England. Recruitment into the study was independent of airports or interest in aircraft noise, so the study is unlikely to reflect those with pre-existing concerns about aircraft noise.
To measure sleep, the researchers used wearable devices (similar in size to a watch) that tracked movement during sleep, a method.