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On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

gwern.net

121–130 of 322 posts

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#121
post #102
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theres no difference in heating efficiency for any source. Heat is heat and it doesn't really matter if it's generated from a heating element in a furnace or an LED light. And with the light you're at least getting dual use out of it. If they have a gas furnace it might be different but that would also depend on how their electricity is generated.

except a heat pump which is far more efficient

Until you get to below zero.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#122
With every similar news I feel dumb. Because my parents and my grandparents used to say same things. It was easy to dismiss all the advice as grumbling, but I really should refresh air before sleeping, humidify air in heating season, eat more vegetables... etc. etc.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#123
post #29

I 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. - Classr…

Are atmospheric CO2 levels rising to an extent that currently projected levels would have a noticeable effect in the same way?

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#124
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have developed custom Ethylene sensors in the past for customers, and Dynament (UK) is a manufacturer that I can definitely recommend if anyone wants to do this and go down the DIY electronics route without having to dig through a bunch of Chinese products to find the "right one". https://www.dynament.com/products/gas-sensors/standard-non-e...

I remember looking into this years ago, and the prices were in the $100-$200 range for low volumes. Was this your experience?

Yes

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is just a transcript of the ongoing experiment, see "status: in progress". Looks like gwern didn't write up the data yet, they have a lot of other experiments going on at the same time most likely..

It is an admittedly biased self-study that while very detailed in explaining the approach and methodology is very flawed from a credibility standpoint though.

I suppose you think that knowledge of the condition might have an effect on quality of sleep or the reporting of that quality. That's reasonable, but hardly a reason not to engage in the experiment. No experiment is perfect.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#127
post #55
post #29

I 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. - Classr…

+1 here. I worked at an IoT startup with a lot of gas sensors. When we tested the CO2 sensor, we immediately noticed a correlation between early-afternoon sleepiness and high CO2 levels. Opening the door to the outside world lowered levels and within 5 minutes we felt more awake. It changed how I work: I still like to be warm and cozy, but now I'll bundle up and endure changing the air rather than seal every door and…

I feel like most of these experiments don't control for air temperature. I feel like cold air has a much more rejuvenating effect than just lowering CO2 levels. Not that they don't matter, but it's not like you'll instantly feel better.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#128
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except a heat pump which is far more efficient

Until you get to below zero.

They now (as of 2018 I think) make Extra Low Temp heat pumps, which can work down to -15F. I think that makes heat pumps practical for a very wide variety of temperate climates.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#129
post #88
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good observation. That said, co2 and o2 should move pretty much in tandem if the source of high co2 is human breathing + limited ventilation, right? This could potentially account for why no ill effects of high co2 were found in submarines. Presumably o2 supply there is well maintained. Do household air quality standards include o2 levels?

They do move in tandem on a molar basis, but because there is so much more O2 in the air, even very high concentrations of CO2 have barely changed the concentration of O2.

They probably do not move in direct tandem, because most of the CO2 stays in the body, which means a higher amount of oxygen is taken out of the air, then CO2 being reintroduced to it.

Every time you breathe in, you not only breath in O2, but also CO2, thus lowering the amount of CO2 in the room relatively to the amount of oxygen.

In other words, 1000 ppm CO2 in the air do not mean 1000 ppm O2 less, but significantly more parts of oxygen less.

Re: On whether changes in bedroom CO2 levels affect sleep quality

#130

Self experiments like these are a great re-enforcement of how insanely hard it is to do accurate, reproducible science. This submission tells us absolutely nothing due to the lack of rigor applied. SO many potential confounding variables, there is zero value in what is being done here.

I'm impressed by how low the score of your comment is. I know computer scientists aren't "real" scientists but I thought the lack of rigor in this one was apparent and it was only upvoted only as a conversation starter. I guess I was wrong.
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