Why Your Neighborhood Could Be Affecting How You Sleep, According to a New Study
· Vice
When we think about ways we can get more of that oh-so-elusive sleep we all seem to be missing out on, our concept of creating a good sleep environment rarely extends beyond our bedrooms. We make sure the air conditioner is set to a comfortable temperature. We buy the right mattress and pillows. We cut down on screen time before bed. We rarely extend our thinking to the layout of the street our home sits on.
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A team of researchers in Japan, whose findings were published in the journal Building and Environment, did exactly that to see whether a neighborhood’s “streetscape” has anything to do with sleep quality.
The researchers used AI to analyze more than 200,000 Google Street View images across the Tokyo area, then compared what those streets looked like with the self-reported sleep habits of more than 1,000 working adults. They found that people living on greener streets lined with trees and buildings that created a more enclosed, sheltered feeling tended to sleep longer and report fewer insomnia symptoms.
Interestingly, this news comes shortly after New York City Mayor Mamdani announced plans to plant so many trees in the city that by 2040 the percentage of tree canopy coverage jumps up from 23.4 percent to 30 percent.
A New Study Suggests Better Sleep Could Start Outside Your Bedroom
The sleep benefit stems from the simple idea of creating a more pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. The researchers found that areas that were more city-like, with fewer green and lush areas, were associated with shorter sleep and lower feelings of safety. All the classic signs of a city street —stuff like sidewalks, traffic signs, and pedestrian barriers— all the stuff that encourages people to pass through — make people feel less at ease.
That can be remedied by simply altering the perception of these areas while keeping all those elements largely intact. People who believed their neighborhoods were generally safer slept longer, meaning our brains are evaluating our surroundings even beyond the walls of our homes when we try to sleep.
All the study did was find an interesting correlation, which does not equal causation. The researchers aren’t definitively claiming that planting a few trees will finally cure your lifelong insomnia. Similar studies that take different cities from around the world into account may be needed to see if the finding holds up. But if it does, it means that good sleep isn’t just about buying an expensive pillow or blackout curtains, or even popping a magnesium glycinate supplement before bed.
Good sleep hygiene could start with smart city planning.
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