How Does Our Environment Interrupt Deep Sleep

Nowadays, getting enough sleep amidst our busy schedules is a challenge. To add on to this, achieving deep, restorative sleep can feel nearly impossible. There are many sources for restless sleep, but one of the most overlooked factors is our environment. From loud vehicles to the hum of our indoor devices, our environment is noisy, and may be playing a significant role in disturbing our restful sleep. 

What Is Deep Sleep, and Why Does It Matter?

Deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep (SWS), is the third stage (N3) of our non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep [1]. It is categorized by slow brain waves, slower heartbeat, and reduced muscle movement and breathing. Studies show that the recommended amount of deep sleep for adults is about 20% of our total sleep time. So, if our recommended daily sleep goal is 7-9 hours, we should be getting 1.4 to 1.8 hours of deep sleep each night. 

This is all because the goal of deep sleep is for our body to focus on restoration. Whether that be improving memory, repairing tissues, or strengthening your immune system, this slow-wave activity is crucial for our physical and cognitive well-being [2].  When we regularly don’t get deep sleep, we increase our risk for chronic conditions and decreased cognitive function [3]. Therefore, this stage is vital for us to achieve each night. 

The Impact of Irregular and Disruptive Noise on Our Sleep 

While we might try and convince ourselves that the hustle and bustle around us doesn’t wake us up, our brain still hears it. Research shows that noise exposure during our sleep, like those constant car horns or the chatter outside, can increase our risk for hypertension, heart disease, and impair our cognition over time [4]. 

Prolonged sleep disturbance at night can increase our cortical arousal, or the increased activity of our brain’s cortex. This can lead to negative short-term effects like daytime sleepiness, impaired cognitive performance, or long-term obstructive effects like elevated heart rates, sleep apnea, or cardiovascular disease [4]. Many of us may be able to attest to these symptoms of sleep disturbance when we feel tired, irritable, and unfocused despite a “full night” of sleep [5]. 

Is Our Bedroom Really Our Sleep Sanctuary?

Our environment isn’t restricted to just noise. Artificial light, changes in temperature, and even clutter can activate our nervous system during the night. What’s worse is that these stressors are found everywhere! While these might be low-level stimulations, they can keep your brain in a state of constant stress, making it harder to enter and maintain deeper sleep stages.

These disruptions aren’t just annoyances, they affect our sleep and overall health in a significant way. Daily exposure to light when we’re trying to sleep, for example, can disrupt our body’s circadian rhythm. Light can also affect our melatonin production, which is crucial for our restful and deep sleep [6]. Chronic exposure to fragmented sleep via stimuli like light or temperature has been linked to metabolic dysregulation, lowered immune resilience, and impaired memory, much like the effects of excessive noise. So, it’s safe to say that your bedroom environment isn’t just influencing how much sleep you get; it’s shaping how well you sleep.

Technology and Sleep: How can Spatial Help? 

At Sound Health Systems (SHS), we’ve developed Spatial Sleep, a non-invasive wellness device that utilizes an auditory resonance therapy (ART) to release binaural beats through a headband [7]. This treatment is intended to be used for 45 minutes at night to address moderate-to-severe insomnia, to ensure that users get their restful and deep sleep. 

Auditory resonance therapy, particularly binaural beats, can help us enter deep sleep by administering two tones or frequencies into both ears, simultaneously. The brain perceives the two tones as one, a third tone, or the binaural beat. This “perceived beat” can then synchronize with our own brainwaves, promoting a restorative, deep sleep [8]. 

While there are environmental factors that affect sleep, being mindful of what can be done is a step in the right direction. Spatial Sleep can be an effective tool to help us achieve our optimal deep sleep so that we can improve our memory, immune system, and overall well-being.  

Your Sleep Deserves Your Attention

Many of us are guilty of underestimating how much our environment shapes our sleep. However, through research, we can learn that constant noise and other stressors from our environment can disrupt our sleep, leading to negative health consequences. 

Therefore, we can all benefit from taking a proactive approach to get deep sleep each night. Whether that means turning off our phones, wearing earplugs to bed, or using Spatial, these small changes in our daily regimen can have a positive impact on our sleep.  

Works Cited

1. Patel AK, Reddy V, Shumway KR, et al. Physiology, Sleep Stages. [Updated 2024 Jan 26]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/

2. Fattinger S, de Beukelaar TT, Ruddy KL, Volk C, Heyse NC, Herbst JA, Hahnloser RHR, Wenderoth N, Huber R. Deep sleep maintains learning efficiency of the human brain. Nat Commun. 2017 May 22;8:15405. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15405. Erratum in: Nat Commun. 2018 May 25;9:16182. doi: 10.1038/ncomms16182. PMID: 28530229; PMCID: PMC5458149.

3. Zheng Z, Chen R, Hong C, Lu J, Zhuang C, Liu H, Zhong Y, Zhang N. Can N3 Period Duration Serve as a Predictor of Cognitive Dysfunction? Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Nov 15;204(10):1235-1236. doi: 10.1164/rccm.202105-1231LE. PMID: 34478349; PMCID: PMC8759299.

4. Basner M, Babisch W, Davis A, Brink M, Clark C, Janssen S, Stansfeld S. Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. Lancet. 2014 Apr 12;383(9925):1325-1332. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61613-X. Epub 2013 Oct 30. PMID: 24183105; PMCID: PMC3988259.

5. Smith MG, Cordoza M, Basner M. Environmental Noise and Effects on Sleep: An Update to the WHO Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2022 Jul;130(7):76001. doi: 10.1289/EHP10197. Epub 2022 Jul 11. PMID: 35857401; PMCID: PMC9272916.

6. Blume C, Garbazza C, Spitschan M. Effects of light on human circadian rhythms, sleep and mood. Somnologie (Berl). 2019 Sep;23(3):147-156. doi: 10.1007/s11818-019-00215-x. Epub 2019 Aug 20. PMID: 31534436; PMCID: PMC6751071.

7. Luong AU, Yong M, Hwang PH, Lin BY, Gopi P, Mohan V, Ma Y, Johnson J, Yen DM, DeMera RS, Bleier BS. Acoustic resonance therapy is safe and effective for the treatment of nasal congestion in rhinitis: A randomized sham-controlled trial. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2024 May;14(5):919-927. doi: 10.1002/alr.23284. Epub 2023 Oct 9. PMID: 37812532.

8. Lee HA, Lee WJ, Kim SU, Kim H, Ahn M, Kim J, Kim DW, Yun CH, Hwang HJ. Effect of dynamic binaural beats on sleep quality: a proof-of-concept study with questionnaire and biosignals. Sleep. 2024 Oct 11;47(10):zsae097. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsae097. PMID: 38629490.