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by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This report discusses a study showing that hospital noise reduces children’s sleep time.
Noise disrupting sleep isn’t just a problem for children in the hospital. Humans can’t close our ears. Even if it doesn’t waken us, noise in the 35 decibel range can disrupt EEG patterns. And these disruptions--called microarousals--have the same impact on heart rate and stress hormone levels as a noise loud enough to waken someone from a deep sleep.
Both in the hospital and in our homes, a quiet bedroom helps us sleep, and that’s important for health and function.
