{"id":11343,"date":"2026-08-25T18:14:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=11343"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:14:26","slug":"the-look-and-feel-of-your-neighborhood-may-affect-your-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/the-look-and-feel-of-your-neighborhood-may-affect-your-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"The look and feel of your neighborhood may affect your sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Your\u00a0neighborhood\u2019s\u00a0\u201cstreetscape\u201d\u2014the physical environment of your street\u2014is something that\u00a0you\u00a0have\u00a0probably never\u00a0consciously thought about,\u00a0despite seeing it\u00a0every\u00a0day. But what if the\u00a0streetscape\u00a0was\u00a0affecting you on a subconscious level and\u00a0disrupting\u00a0your\u00a0sleep?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This intriguing question is posed by the findings of\u00a0a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0360132326005160\">study<\/a>\u00a0led\u00a0by\u00a0Professor Daisuke Matsushita of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology\u00a0at\u00a0Osaka Metropolitan University.\u00a0The research\u00a0team\u00a0used AI to\u00a0analyze\u00a0more than 200,000 Google Street View images\u00a0to identify\u00a0visual neighborhood characteristics.\u00a0They then\u00a0linked\u00a0these characteristics\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0self-reported sleep of 1,089 working adults\u00a0living on the lower floors of apartments in Tokyo, who were\u00a0most likely to be affected by the streetscape.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They found&nbsp;that&nbsp;those living in neighborhoods&nbsp;rated&nbsp;as having a stronger sense of safety tended to sleep longer,&nbsp;and that this&nbsp;rating&nbsp;appeared to be&nbsp;shaped&nbsp;by the streetscape.&nbsp;Generally, people&nbsp;slept&nbsp;longer in areas with lots of greenery,&nbsp;such as leafy trees,&nbsp;on the street.&nbsp;Similarly, high \u201cenclosure\u201d\u2014meaning many tall vertical buildings and few wide-open spaces\u2014was also associated with&nbsp;longer sleep and fewer insomnia symptoms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the study also made a surprising finding. The&nbsp;researchers&nbsp;found that&nbsp;highly walkable streetscapes,&nbsp;such as those with more&nbsp;sidewalks and traffic&nbsp;signs,&nbsp;were associated with a&nbsp;lowered&nbsp;sense of safety and&nbsp;shortened&nbsp;sleep duration.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This suggests&nbsp;that walkability does not always&nbsp;represent&nbsp;a&nbsp;reassuring environment.&nbsp;Instead,&nbsp;a&nbsp;possible explanation&nbsp;is that streets with extensive pedestrian infrastructure are often busier,&nbsp;more&nbsp;crowded, and used by more&nbsp;strangers, which may be perceived as&nbsp;less safe or less relaxing than quieter residential streets.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis study demonstrates the potential for evaluating streetscape characteristics across large geographic areas in a cost-effective manner,\u201d&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Matsushita&nbsp;said. \u201cBased on&nbsp;the technique&nbsp;used in this study,&nbsp;cities could potentially measure perceived safety,&nbsp;beauty,&nbsp;liveliness, and&nbsp;enclosure&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;pollution&nbsp;and&nbsp;noise.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe hope that&nbsp;opening&nbsp;up&nbsp;this&nbsp;new&nbsp;perspective&nbsp;creates&nbsp;further&nbsp;possibilities for designing healthier neighborhoods,\u201d&nbsp;he concludes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The findings were published in&nbsp;<em>Building&nbsp;and Environment<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those living in neighborhoods\u00a0rated\u00a0as having a stronger sense of safety tended to sleep longer,\u00a0and that this\u00a0rating\u00a0appeared to be\u00a0shaped\u00a0by the streetscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1268,848,2206,2211],"class_list":["post-11343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-home-care","tag-mental-health","tag-sleep-deprivation","tag-sleeping-habits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11344,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11343\/revisions\/11344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}