Sleep is the body's nightly maintenance shift: it repairs tissue, clears metabolic waste from the brain, and consolidates memories. Yet for millions of Europeans, that essential restoration is becoming harder to achieve. A new paper in the Journal of Sleep Research warns that a combination of rising temperatures, digital saturation and round-the-clock work schedules is creating what the authors call a “perfect storm” for sleep health across the continent.
“People are aware that sleep matters, but few recognise how factors such as climate change, technology, shift work, urban environments and misinformation are combining to affect how well we sleep,” said Fran Pilkington-Cheney, co-lead author and lecturer in psychology and sleep at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). The researchers argue that solutions cannot rest solely on individual effort. Instead, they call for “shifting away from individualised approaches toward coordinated, systems-level action across policy, healthcare, education, industry, and environmental planning.”
Heat, cities and inequality
Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and the consequences for sleep are direct. Hotter nights impede the body's natural cooling process, delaying sleep onset and causing more frequent awakenings. Urban environments amplify the problem: traffic noise, artificial light and air pollution all interfere with rest. Climate-related anxiety and extreme weather events—such as the heatwaves that have scorched southern Spain and Greece—further destabilise mental health and sleep patterns.
The burden is not shared equally. People in poorly insulated flats in Berlin or Lisbon, those who cannot afford air conditioning, and families in overcrowded housing face far greater difficulty maintaining comfortable sleeping conditions. Refugees and displaced people, often housed in temporary shelters with little privacy, are especially vulnerable to heat, noise and light.
These disparities echo broader climate vulnerabilities across the region. As rising heat and pollution threaten Europe's brain health, sleep disruption adds another layer of risk to cognitive and physical wellbeing.
Technology: help or hindrance?
Wearable devices and sleep-tracking apps promise to demystify rest. They can help individuals spot patterns and allow clinicians to monitor patients remotely, particularly in rural areas of France or Poland where sleep specialists are scarce. But consumer gadgets are not always accurate enough to diagnose disorders, and their outputs can fuel unnecessary anxiety.
The paper highlights “orthosomnia”—an excessive preoccupation with achieving perfect sleep metrics—and warns that social media trends like “sleepmaxxing” encourage rigid routines, unproven remedies and obsessive self-monitoring. Meanwhile, online influencers and AI-generated content spread misleading health advice, blurring the line between evidence and promotion.
Work around the clock
Europe's 24-hour economy is another culprit. Roughly 21% of workers across the EU engage in shift work, according to the report. Healthcare staff, transport workers and those in precarious employment often have little control over their schedules, while remote working and after-hours messages erode the boundary between professional and personal life.
The researchers advocate stronger worker protections, more predictable rosters, better fatigue-management systems and workplace practices that safeguard rest time. Without such measures, they warn, the pressures will only intensify.
“Without wider co-ordinated action, these pressures are likely to become more significant in the years ahead,” Pilkington-Cheney said. The paper's authors urge European governments to treat sleep as a public health priority, integrating it into climate adaptation strategies, urban planning and labour policy—rather than leaving individuals to battle the elements alone.
