A field investigation of the thermal environment and adaptive thermal behavior in bedrooms in different climate regions in China

Abstract

Sleep accounts for one-third of people's lives and is used to help overcome fatigue, recover energy to protect from brain damage, 1 and maintain physical and mental health. 2 Sleep disorders, however, are not uncommon among the general public, and approximately one-third of adults suffer from relevant issues. 3 Poor sleep quality can damage the physical and mental health of people, especially adolescents 4 and the elderly. 5,6 For sleep quality, there are many influencing factors, such as acoustic environment, visual environment, thermal environment, and human psychological stress, with thermal environment have been suggested as a major factor. 7 A comfortable indoor thermal environment is even more important for sleeping than for awake times due to a reduced metabolic rate, which regulates the core temperature of the human body, and limited adaptive abilities. 8 A well-maintained indoor thermal environment during the sleeping period contributes to a reduced number of wake-ups caused by thermal discomfort, hence improving sleep quality. 9,10 To

An innovative fan control strategy aimed at responding to human physiological characteristics for comfort sleeping

“…Furthermore, a comfortable indoor thermal environment is more important during sleep at night than during the day because of the reduced metabolic rate and limited thermoregulatory function at night [6]. As sleep thermal environments are closely related to sleep quality, a well-maintained indoor thermal environment during sleep helps to reduce the number of wake-ups [7]. In contrast, an uncomfortable thermal environment will activate the thermoregulatory defence mechanisms and disrupt sleep [8].…”