Is Wildfire Haze In The Duluth Area Impacting Your Sleep?
Have you been having trouble sleeping lately? The past few days, I have been waking up incredibly tired. I do have an early wake up call time but I have been going to bed at the same time as usual, yet wake up exhausted.
I started thinking about the wildfire haze and wondered if that had any impact on things. I haven't been waking up to cough or anything like that so I thought it might be a long shot. It turns out, I may be on to something!
Sound Sleep Medical says that poor air quality due to wildfires can impact your sleep in a big way. First and foremost, you could breathe in dangerous particles which leads to coughing throughout the night, therefore waking you up or making you restless in the night.
The second way the wildfire haze might impact your sleep is a bit less obvious. If you are living in an area impacted by wildfire haze, like the Northland, you may be stressed out about it. You may be stressed about what it is doing to your body or your loved ones, therefore making for a restless night of sleep.
The third and perhaps the scariest way this wildfire haze can cause you to lose sleep? The Sleep Foundation says that when there is an increase in air pollution like wildfire haze, it increases feelings of "depression and anxiety" which in turn makes it difficult to get a great night of sleep.
Last but not least, we may also be losing out on sleep because we are stressed that the fires may impact the areas where we live, since they are burning in areas nearby. Even if we don't see a huge wildfire in Minnesota or Wisconsin, we may be seeing conditions ripe for one and burning restrictions, which in turn can lead to stress and in turn, less sleep than usual.
Losing Sleep Due To Wildfires? It's Science
The Sleep Foundation also says that wildfires cost the average person an hour and a half of sleep a night, whether stress or coughing or all of the above. That adds up to more than one-hundred hours per year and wildfire season.
Where Is The Wildfire Haze Coming From?
Right now, the Northland is seeing haze from fires burning in Canada and Michigan. The National Weather Service of Duluth shared a graphic from one of the days this month we saw a ton of smoke and haze.
Tips For Getting A Good Night Of Sleep Right Now
While we wait out the haze here in the Northland, try to limit your time outdoors if possible. Keep your windows and doors closed when haze is really bad so it doesn't get into your house and the air you are breathing throughout the night and try to go to bed a little bit earlier.
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