Related side question: does anyone know when and if we would see CO2 levels in the atmosphere of around 2000-3000 ppm because of all the fossil fuels we burn (which I understand is a level that is not optimal for us)? I’m asking for a friend...
On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
21–30 of 322 posts
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#22I've worked on environmental sensing iot projects and have seen the cost of co2 sensors. Almost all the cheap ones are VOC sensors which infer a co2 level by assuming the VOC output is from humans (rather than paint for example). Given the cost of the device I would be amazed if it wasn't a VOC based sensor. The cheapest CO2 sensors I've seen are well over $250, even in bulk. CO2 is quite innert, so it requires very…
i’ve noticed this casually as well. i bought an airthings wave plus [0] a few months ago and the co2 and total voc readings seem pretty (but not perfectly) correlated.
i live in a drafty pre-war building and my co2 peaks at around 1500-1600 ppm at night with doors and windows closed. it troughs at around 500 during the day when i have the doors and windows open (~400 is ambient from what i understand). tvocs typically peak around 600 ppb and trough at around 20 (under 100 is considered safe iirc), with the same cycle as co2.
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#23Related side question: does anyone know when and if we would see CO2 levels in the atmosphere of around 2000-3000 ppm because of all the fossil fuels we burn (which I understand is a level that is not optimal for us)? I’m asking for a friend...
Not any time soon, as far as I'm aware. According to [0] a fancy article from Business Insider, the rate of increase is 2ppm/yr, on average.
But many studies suggest cognitive effects of CO2 levels as low as 1,000ppm. See: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037
[0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-record-human-...
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#24Related side question: does anyone know when and if we would see CO2 levels in the atmosphere of around 2000-3000 ppm because of all the fossil fuels we burn (which I understand is a level that is not optimal for us)? I’m asking for a friend...
Not any time soon, as far as I'm aware. According to [0] a fancy article from Business Insider, the rate of increase is 2ppm/yr, on average. But many studies suggest cognitive effects of CO2 levels as low as 1,000ppm. See: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 [0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-record-human-...
Thanks! So 2ppm/year gives us another 300 yrs to top 1000 ppm. I guess we’re safe for now! Rock on
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#25Fire safety experts recommend that bedroom doors be closed at night: https://closeyourdoor.org/
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#26I'm eager to hear the results. I recently got an Awair 2.0 after seeing this talk by DHH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqh8oLY7Ik It quickly confirmed that, without turning my thermostat fan to "ON", my bedroom CO2 jumps from about 1000 ppm to 2000 ppm within a couple hours of us going to sleep. In the fall, my wife and I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling like we couldn't breathe. What I figure…
Install an air exchanger. Panasonic makes some that are reasonably priced.
They're called energy recovery ventilators or ERVs. The Panasonic units are most well-regarded.
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not any time soon, as far as I'm aware. According to [0] a fancy article from Business Insider, the rate of increase is 2ppm/yr, on average. But many studies suggest cognitive effects of CO2 levels as low as 1,000ppm. See: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.1510037 [0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-record-human-...
Thanks! So 2ppm/year gives us another 300 yrs to top 1000 ppm. I guess we’re safe for now! Rock on
Your local air has higher CO2 than the environment even today it can reach 1000 ppm with poor ventilation. So, it's likely to be an increasing issue long before we hit 1000 ppm outside.
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#28”But if one room can mix with and increase the Netatmo’s room all the way up to 1934PPM, what must the original concentration have been like?”
Why not move the weather station to the bedroom for a couple of nights? (And make sure the sensor is at nose/mouth height, preferably close to it. CO2 is heavier than air, so concentrations may be higher closer to the floor in a closed room with little movement)
I would also do a back-of-the-envelope computation along the lines of https://www.globe.gov/explore-science/scientists-blog/archiv... or https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1877705813007558/1-s2.0-S18777058130..., to verify the numbers the weather station produces.
And the lesson of all this seems to be: get a large bedroom and leave the door open (both easier for the well-off, so get rich parents!)
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#29I was lucky to get my hands on 5 proper co2 sensors from university, while I was teaching and working. So plenty of test places.
What I found:
-Just a couple of hours in a office, without ventilation spikes the co2 enough to make everyone dizzy and tired by the end of the day. Keeping eye on the meter and ventilating properly, increased everyones productivity and people werent so tired by the end of the day.
- Classrooms, with 20-30 people are as bad. co2 rises really fast and makes people dizzy. Most often ventilation is too low, as a cost saving measure.
-Closing bedroom door, sleeping alone made bedroom as bad by the morning than classroom or office.
-Main culprit seems to be our perfection with insulating and making rooms airtight. I do live in a cold climate, so having open vents or windows is not common half the year. It seems it has not been such a big issue before plastic windows or in older houses. I think it is getting worse with every new building.
Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality
#30I'm eager to hear the results. I recently got an Awair 2.0 after seeing this talk by DHH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRqh8oLY7Ik It quickly confirmed that, without turning my thermostat fan to "ON", my bedroom CO2 jumps from about 1000 ppm to 2000 ppm within a couple hours of us going to sleep. In the fall, my wife and I started waking up in the middle of the night feeling like we couldn't breathe. What I figure…
Our HVAC system has a “circulate” option that we sometimes keep on. It turns the variable speed blower on the lowest setting a few times per hour and keeps air flowing well.