Tossing, turning… and gasping for air!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
We all hate hot nights — sweaty sheets, cranky mornings. But are we losing more than sleep?
Enter Bastien Lechat and team from Flinders University in Australia.
Using under-the-mattress sleep trackers, they studied a hundred thousand people for three years. They monitored movement and breathing to detect obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA. This condition makes you stop breathing during sleep.
And? On the hottest nights, people were forty-five percent more likely to experience OSA episodes. This can cause fatigue, heart disease, diabetes, even driving accidents. With global warming turning up the heat, these risks are rising, too.
Better cool it down, or miss out on dreamland!
Reference: Lechat, B., Manners, J., Pinilla, L. et al. Global warming may increase the burden of obstructive sleep apnea. Nat Commun 16, 5100 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60218-1