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The Effect of Noise on Sleep

empirical.health

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Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#131

Post by potato3732842 »

scythe wrote: post #130
timeattack wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any advice on how to eliminate noisy neighbours that would randomly drop their shit at random intervals in the middle of night and let their child to stomp around every late evening?

You know, I work in hospitals all day and people are always stomping around and moving heavy equipment. But you never hear anything coming through the ceiling. Contact your state representative and ask them to do something about the building codes. It's a completely voluntary problem. American buildings are noisy because we decided that was okay.

>Contact your state representative and ask them to do something about the building codes. It's a completely voluntary problem. American buildings are noisy because we decided that was okay.

Congratulations on finding an equally terrible and bad for everybody apartment-living analog to the sort of suburbanite Karen opinion that underpins meddling HOAs and busybody municipal codes.

If you want a quieter apartment pony up to live in a nicer one. Don't force the rest of society to shoulder the expense.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#132

Post by wintermutestwin »

mmh0000 wrote: post #67

I’ve spent years “fixing” my sleep. Things I recommend: * a sleep tracker. I love AutoSleep - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autosleep-track-sleep-on-watch... * Any kind of white noise. I use an air purifier at home, and a little pocket size white noise machine when I travel. * find and eliminate any noises in your home. Computers, fridges, squeaky doors, etc. * find and eliminate any lights. Especially stupid power a…

What does AutoSleep offer above and beyond Apple’s Health app?

I have (and recommend) a white noise machine at home, but when I travel, I use the awesome MyNoise app, which lets you EQ the noise precisely so you can target the specific annoyance in your environment.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#133

Post by potato3732842 »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #76
socalgal2 wrote: post #70

I don't know how to state this well but I find the fact that nearly all new apartment buildings in California are only allowed to be built on busy streets very frustrating. I'm guessing it's part nimby-ism and part zoning but every time I see a new apartment complex it's next to the busiest streets in the city (LA, SF). It's like many things, if you want health you must be rich. If you can't afford a house then F.U.…

Streets are much quieter at lower speed limits. There is definitely room for improvement here from the traffic engineers.

To a point. The problem is that the kind of people who are always screeching about traffic speeds are never satisfied and below a certain threshold the only way to go get slower is 4-way stops. And once those go in you get to listen to every motorcycle and delivery truck accelerate after the stop.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#134

Post by willsmith72 »

bumby wrote: post #105
willsmith72 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, we gain more by making faster decisions than we do by being 100% precise

Nobody claimed we need 100% precision (or, more to the point, 100% certainty). But I would argue the level of our convictions should be proportional to the risk and level of certainty. To the point being made, for most Americans the cost of updating your building envelope and fenestration is relatively high. Yet if we look at the accuracy of the data (compared to the medical device standard), it’s moderate accuracy.…

This isn't the first study on noise and sleep, in fact it's barely scientific compared to the rest of the research.

There is no scientific disagreement as to the correlation, it's just "how big" and "what specifically".

Compare the downside of "smaller impact than expected" with the cost of delay and it's a no-brainer

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#135

Post by jobs_throwaway »

aegypti wrote: post #86
sjs382 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> only allowed to be built on busy streets Is this true or a misleading observation? I can see some argument about it, increasing traffic in areas that aren't equipped for it if the building is large enough. But it might just be market forces, too: in larger cities, it's often more desirable to be near a major artery. Earplugs (if the noise bothers you) vs a longer commute.

It is quite literally illegal to build anything but detached single family homes on 95.8 percent of the total residential land area in California / 75% of the residential land area in most major American cities.

Daily reminder that our zoning policy is deeply racist and evil

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#136

Post by mrexroad »

stronglikedan wrote: post #33
YossarianFrPrez wrote: post #30

Some days I joke that there should be a set of Nobel prizes for making machines quieter. Categories could include: air-conditioning units and mini-fridges, construction and landscaping equipment, old university buildings, pump-housings, etc. The quality of life of many would be improved if we had quieter machines. It boggles my mind that a) in many hotel rooms one can hear a good deal of machine noise and neighbors'…

> making machines quieter It's already possible, just not profitable.

Exactly. That’s where the other comment about a “noise tax”, or enact fines for exceeding limits, are probably necessary to shift the calculus.

Japan is a good case study [1]. If nothing else, it’s fun to look at the charts showing noise reductions—not just in aggregate, but for each contributing input (e.g. engine, intake, exhaust, tires, cooling)—for both passenger vehicles and heavy equipment. Unfortunately, in the US, we have a few obstacles to legislation like this, least of which being public apathy as majority of voters who are not exposed to high sound levels daily.

“Japan's primary legislation governing noise regulation is the Environmental Noise Regulation Act, first introduced in 1986 and subsequently amended in 1999. This act sets different noise limits for different times of the day, with the maximum allowable noise level during the day set at 55 decibels and reduced to 45 decibels at night to prevent disturbances to those who are sleeping. Violators of these standards are subject to penalties.”

[1] https://www.lios-group.com/news/noise-regulations-in-japan-o...

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#137

Post by bumby »

willsmith72 wrote: post #134
bumby wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody claimed we need 100% precision (or, more to the point, 100% certainty). But I would argue the level of our convictions should be proportional to the risk and level of certainty. To the point being made, for most Americans the cost of updating your building envelope and fenestration is relatively high. Yet if we look at the accuracy of the data (compared to the medical device standard), it’s moderate accuracy.…

This isn't the first study on noise and sleep, in fact it's barely scientific compared to the rest of the research. There is no scientific disagreement as to the correlation, it's just "how big" and "what specifically". Compare the downside of "smaller impact than expected" with the cost of delay and it's a no-brainer

>smaller impact than expected

Yes, it’s about both effect size and uncertainty. That’s science. But your original post also brought policy into play. Unless you actually know that uncertainty, effect size, and those costs (including opportunity costs), you’re just making stuff up because “it just makes sense so it must be true.” That’s neither good science, nor good policy.

Advocating for big policy changes (like changing building codes) without understanding those aspects is like jumping into a pool headfirst before knowing the depth.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#138

Post by plorkyeran »

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #62
proee wrote: post #5

So just use some good quality earplugs?

Having ear plugs in for that long feels like an ice pick digging into my skull. Don't know about anyone else.

I've never found ear plugs which are comfortable inside my ear canal for more than a few hours (including some extra-small child ones), but the silicone ones which cover the opening rather than being inserted into the ear work well for me. They don't block sound as well but it's still a very noticeable difference.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#139

Post by mmh0000 »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #132
mmh0000 wrote: post #67

I’ve spent years “fixing” my sleep. Things I recommend: * a sleep tracker. I love AutoSleep - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autosleep-track-sleep-on-watch... * Any kind of white noise. I use an air purifier at home, and a little pocket size white noise machine when I travel. * find and eliminate any noises in your home. Computers, fridges, squeaky doors, etc. * find and eliminate any lights. Especially stupid power a…

What does AutoSleep offer above and beyond Apple’s Health app? I have (and recommend) a white noise machine at home, but when I travel, I use the awesome MyNoise app, which lets you EQ the noise precisely so you can target the specific annoyance in your environment.

  > What does AutoSleep offer above and beyond Apple’s Health app?
In my experience. After initial setup, it is way more accurate.

Apple commonly says I get more hours of sleep than I know I do. Apple counts just being relaxed as sleeping. Whereas I can tune AutoSleep to correctly identify the difference between me sleep and just being super relaxed. Thus I get a much more accurate image of what is working

Also the apple sleep graph is actually terrible. Almost impossible to understand when wake up are occurring.

Re: The Effect of Noise on Sleep

#140

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

darajava wrote: post #71
FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having ear plugs in for that long feels like an ice pick digging into my skull. Don't know about anyone else.

Probably a size issue. I had earplugs that were too big that start hurting after a while. I’ve since found smaller ones that work perfectly.

I prefer the ear-muff style circumaural ones. I have to wear hearing protection frequently at work and have several pairs of Pro-For-Sho muffs.
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