Day-by-day changes in indoor physical environment were associated with sleep efficiency, duration, and irregularity among African American adults in the Atlanta Metro area.
Key Findings
Results
Higher indoor noise levels were associated with lower sleep efficiency among African American adults.
Complete case analysis included N=29 participants and 288 person-days.
Higher noise levels were associated with lower sleep efficiency (β = -1.81%, 95% CI: -2.00, -0.45).
The association was stronger among those in the highest quartile of noise vs. the lowest (β = -2.73%, 95% CI: -4.91, -0.54).
Linear mixed models were used to assess within-person associations, adjusting for sex, age, educational attainment, and number of household members.
Results
Higher indoor barometric pressure levels were associated with longer sleep duration.
Higher pressure levels were associated with longer sleep duration (β = 15.22 minutes, 95% CI: 1.11, 28.02).
Analysis was conducted using linear mixed models with within-person day-by-day variation.
The confidence interval excludes zero, indicating statistical significance.
Complete case analysis comprised 288 person-days from 29 participants.
Results
Higher indoor barometric pressure levels were associated with more irregular sleep.
Higher pressure levels were associated with more irregular sleep (β = 16.07 minutes, 95% CI: 1.40, 30.73).
Sleep regularity was assessed using linear models rather than linear mixed models.
The finding was consistent across both complete case and multiple-imputation analyses.
The study measured sleep regularity as a dimension distinct from sleep duration and efficiency.
Results
Having higher levels of all indoor environmental factors jointly was associated with lower sleep efficiency, though the confidence interval included zero.
Joint associations of all environmental factors with sleep measures were assessed using quantile g-computation.
Higher levels of all environmental factors combined were associated with lower sleep efficiency (β = -1.38%, 95% CI: -3.01, 0.26).
The 95% confidence interval crossed zero, indicating the joint association was not statistically significant at conventional thresholds.
Indoor environmental factors included temperature, carbon dioxide, noise, humidity, and barometric pressure.
Methods
The study used objective within-person day-by-day measures of both indoor environmental exposures and sleep outcomes in a sample of African American adults.
A total of 36 African American participants contributed at least five consecutive days of actigraphy-measured sleep, yielding 417 person-days total.
Indoor environmental factors (temperature, carbon dioxide, noise, humidity, barometric pressure) were objectively measured by an indoor environmental monitor.
Sleep outcomes included sleep efficiency, wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO), sleep duration, and sleep regularity.
Participants' mean age was 55.3 years (SD = 8.1); most were female and had a bachelor's degree or higher.
The study was conducted in the Atlanta Metro area.
Results
Multiple-imputation analysis yielded results consistent with the complete case analysis.
Complete case analysis included 29 participants and 288 person-days, compared to 36 participants and 417 person-days in the full sample.
Consistency between complete case and multiple-imputation analyses suggests findings were not substantially biased by missing data.
Both analytic approaches supported the associations between noise and sleep efficiency and between barometric pressure and sleep duration and irregularity.
What This Means
This research suggests that the physical conditions inside a person's home — including noise levels, barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide — are linked to how well African American adults sleep from one night to the next. The study tracked 36 adults in the Atlanta area over multiple days, measuring their sleep objectively with wrist-worn devices (actigraphy) and recording indoor environmental conditions with monitoring equipment. By looking at day-to-day changes within each individual, the researchers were able to isolate how shifts in the home environment related to shifts in sleep quality.
The study found that on days when indoor noise levels were higher, participants tended to have lower sleep efficiency — meaning a smaller proportion of time in bed was spent actually asleep. This effect was especially pronounced for those exposed to the highest levels of noise. Higher barometric pressure (air pressure) was linked to both longer sleep duration and more irregular sleep timing. When all environmental factors were considered together using a statistical method called quantile g-computation, higher combined exposure was associated with lower sleep efficiency, though this combined result did not reach conventional levels of statistical certainty.
This research matters because it highlights the indoor home environment as a potentially modifiable factor affecting sleep health in a population — African Americans — that has documented disparities in sleep quality. Rather than relying on self-reported data, the study used objective sensors for both environmental exposures and sleep measurement, strengthening confidence in the findings. The results suggest that efforts to reduce indoor noise and better understand how air pressure fluctuations affect sleep could be relevant to improving sleep health in this community.
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Chen Y, Ward L, Bliwise D, Johnson D. (2026). Day-by-day changes in the indoor environment and sleep health among African American adults.. Sleep health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2026.03.008