Abstract
In the US, sleep health disparities exist between Black individuals and their non-Hispanic White counterparts. The underlying causes of these disparities remain unknown, but significant progress has recently been made in advancing this research. Several socioeconomic and psychosocial stressors contribute to propagating disparities. However, these influences only partially explain the observed differences, thus necessitating further exploration, particularly regarding environmental factors.
This investigation examined the linear relationships between noise and sleep utilizing HowLoud soundscores as a measure for noise. This measure combines air/car traffic and local factors to determine a location’s overall noise level. Analysis found noise was only associated with sleep parameters among male participants, with greater noise showing a significant increase in their nocturnal awakenings. These findings differ from previous studies which typically report that females have increased sensitivity to noise. These results suggest that Black males may experience greater autonomic arousal from noise.
Lunation was explored by assessing the differences in participant sleep parameters with respect to the moon phase, and these outcomes fluctuated sinusoidally throughout the lunar month. It was observed that sleep durations were shortest during the full moon relative to other moon phases, though this finding had a low effect size and power.
This investigation was one of the first to assess the relationship between noise and sleep in Black adults using objective measures for both parameters simultaneously. Furthermore, these results may corroborate the presence of circalunar rhythms underlying human sleep patterns. Controlled experimental and/or larger observational studies are warranted to confirm the findings from this investigation and establish causation.