Rising Night Temperatures Affect Sleep and Health Across Maharashtra
This year's heatwave was unbearable! But it's not just the hot days that are the problem. A new study by Climate Central and Climate Trends shows that climate change is warming nights, affecting sleep and health worldwide. Data says, 39.3 more warm nights each year from 2014 to 2023. This data covers 27 cities in Maharashtra, including six from Vidarbha: Nagpur, Akola, Amravati, Chandrapur, Gondia, and Yavatmal. Except for Amravati, these cities are among the top ten in Maharashtra for having more warm and sleepless nights.
Climate change has caused night temperatures to rise above 25 degrees Celsius. Normally, summer nights are over 20 degrees Celsius, and Nagpur had 92 such nights on average. But Nagpur had 39.3 more warm nights over the past 10 years, which affects sleep and health. In Vidarbha, Gondia had the most extra hot nights, with 42 more nights from 2014 to 2023 and 42.5 more from 2018 to 2023. Akola had 39.6 more hot nights from 2014 to 2023 and 41.2 more from 2018 to 2023. Yavatmal had 38.5 more hot nights from 2014 to 2023 and 49.7 more from 2018 to 2023. Nagpur had 39.3 more hot nights in both periods. Chandrapur had 37.3 more hot nights from 2014 to 2023 and 38.7 more from 2018 to 2023. Amravati was cooler with 34.2 more hot nights from 2014 to 2023 and 35 more from 2018 to 2023.
The data shows the number of warm nights has gone up, especially in the past five years. People in Nagpur and other Vidarbha cities had more than a month of warm nights each year on average in the past 10 years. The study shows that night temperatures are rising faster than day temperatures because of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. Climate change added about 50 to 80 extra hot nights each year in cities across Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh between 2018 and 2023. Mumbai had the most changes, with 65 more warm nights due to global warming.
Experts have shared their thoughts on how warm nights caused by climate change are leading to sleepless nights. Dr. Akshay Deoras, a Research Scientist at the University of Reading, UK, said, “The impact of high minimum temperatures is often overlooked in tropical countries like India. This is worrying because many people can't afford cooling devices. In these cases, room temperatures can be much higher than outside air temperatures. High humidity makes it even harder for the body to cool down. High minimum temperatures usually come with high maximum temperatures, which leads to disturbed sleep at night and heat exhaustion during the day.”
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