Pilot study of the effects of ventilation and ventilation noise on sleep quality in the young and elderly.

Three conditions were established to investigate the effects of ventilation and related ventilation noise on sleep quality: No mechanical ventilation/low noise (A); Mechanical ventilation /low noise (B); Mechanical ventilation/high noise (C). The interventions were achieved by idling a mechanical ventilation system or operating it in two different modes. Nine young people and nine older people were all exposed to each of the three conditions for a whole night's sleep, but data from only 15 subjects were analyzed as three young subjects apparently slept with open windows in condition A. Sleep quality was measured objectively with polysomnography (PSG), which monitored signals of electroencephalogram (EEG), bilateral electrooculogram (EOG), and chin electromyogram (EMG) continuously during the sleeping period. Saliva samples were collected before sleep at night and after waking in the morning, and the concentrations of cortisol and lysozyme in them were determined. Without mechanical ventilation, the indoor CO2 level averaged about 1400 ppm during the night. Operating the mechanical ventilation decreased the indoor CO2 to below 1000 ppm, which improved objectively measured sleep quality: wake time after sleep onset (WASO) decreased on average by 15 min (p < 0.05) and sleep efficiency (SE) increased on average by about 4% (p < 0.05). Increased ventilation noise level (50.8dB(A) vs. 34.7dB(A); 54.9dB(C) vs. 48dB(C)) did not significantly change SE or WASO but did change the duration of sleep stages: It decreased the duration of deep sleep by 11min (p < 0.05) and REM sleep by 17 min (p < 0.01) and increased the duration of light sleep by 17 min (p < 0.05). The ventilation noise significantly increased the concentration of lysozyme in the elderly (p < 0.05) although no significant effects on cortisol could be shown. These results confirm that a low ventilation rate has negative effects on sleep quality and that ventilation noise at or above 50dB(A) may disrupt sleep.