Wind farm noise may disrupt sleep

In this article, researchers surveyed the sleep quality of people living near and far from farm turbines. The results showed that the closer a person live to the wind farm, the more disrupted their sleep, secondary to the noise generated by the turbine. Persons close to the turbine also had poorer mental health. My first thought was that perhaps the difference in self-reported sleep and mental health was due to being lower socioeconomic status, but the study authors said they controlled for that.

Hospital Noises May Disrupt Sleep

This article talks about research showing that noises in hospitals can disrupt sleep. In this study, 12 healthy people were studied outside of the hospital and "hospital" noises were pumped in - like IV machine beeps and talking. Frequently, these sounds briefly disrupted sleep, sometimes without the person's knowledge and sometimes causing brief increases in heart rate. The authors suggest making hospitals less noisy, which may improve sleep, and may help patient's heal faster.