A STUDY ON THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF THERMAL COMFORT AND BEDROOM VENTILATION ON SLEEP QUALITY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

It is well known that Singaporeans generally sleep very little due to the deeply ingrained culture of hectic schedules and long arduous work hours. However, it should also be acknowledged that Singaporeans lack quality sleep too. This is because Singaporeans live in an urban city where external environmental parameters would adversely affect sleep. As such, it is important to explore the various ways that an individual can improve their sleep quality as it is a pertinent issue among Singaporeans. The study focuses on the combined effects of thermal comfort and bedroom ventilation on sleep quality in Singapore to gain an understanding of which bedroom configuration is the most optimal for sleep quality. The experiment was conducted in a HDB flat to observe how the changes in bedroom configuration affects sleep quality. Quantitative sleep measures were used to track the quality of sleep in the individual, whereas sensors were used to measure the parameters of CO2, temperature, relative humidity and PM2.5 levels. It was suggested in the study that relative humidity and CO2 had a notable effect on sleep, and that the latter had the most impact. It had been observed that the bedroom configuration of a non-air-conditioned environment, closed windows, and an exhaust fan positioned beside an open door had given the most optimal sleep quality. The author hopes that this study provides a framework that may be extended in further studies to explore how different typologies of buildings and bedroom configurations may affect quality sleep