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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.
