Neighbourhood Street Pattern, Socioeconomic Status and Sleep

BEHealthyLivingLab
Jun 21, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Sep 15, 2024

Results from: “Associations between neighbourhood street pattern, neighbourhood socioeconomic status and sleep in adults”

Lukic R, Olstad DL, Doyle-Baker PK, Potestio ML, McCormack GR

Neighbourhood street pattern, socioeconomic status and sleep

Sleep duration can be a risk factor for poor health outcomes. The United States National Sleep Foundation suggests that sleeping approximately seven to nine hours per day is associated with better health and a higher quality of life for adults (1). Despite the recognized importance of sleep, many adults in Canada report sleeping less than seven hours per night (2). Evidence suggests that sleep may be affected by neighbourhood characteristics such as street layout and walkability, as well as socioeconomic status (SES) (3, 4). Although this evidence suggests that neighbourhood characteristics may affect sleep duration among adults, the effects of the neighbourhood built environment and SES have not yet been studied. A recent study examined the combined effects of the neighbourhood built environment and SES on sleep duration.

Combined effects of neighbourhood built environment and SES on sleep A random sample of 10,500 households were selected from twelve Calgary, Alberta, Canada neighbourhoods to participate in the self-administered Physical Activity, Health and Demographic Questionnaire (PAHDQ). Findings from this study indicated no independent association between the neighbourhood built environment and sleep, nor between neighbourhood SES and sleep. However, the interaction between neighbourhood built environment and SES was associated with shorter mean sleep duration. Adults living in curvilinear low SES neighbourhoods slept the least (mean = 6.93 hours per day) while those living in curvilinear high SES neighbourhoods slept the most (mean = 7.43 hours per day). The findings suggest that the street layout (network) may be a more important factor associated with sleep duration among low versus higher SES neighbourhoods. More research is needed to better understand how the interaction between the neighbourhood built environment and neighbourhood SES may influence sleep duration in adults.

Suggested Citation: Lukic R, Olstad DL, Doyle-Baker PK, Potestio ML, McCormack GR. Associations between neighbourhood street pattern, neighbourhood socioeconomic status and sleep in adults. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2021 Jun 1;22:101345.

References:

Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, Alessi C, Bruni O, DonCarlos L, Hazen N, Herman J, Hillard PJ, Katz ES, Kheirandish-Gozal L. National Sleep Foundation’s updated sleep duration recommendations. Sleep health. 2015 Dec 1;1(4):233-43.
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McCormack GR, Friedenreich C, McLaren L, Potestio M, Sandalack B, Csizmadi I. Interactions between neighbourhood urban form and socioeconomic status and their associations with anthropometric measurements in Canadian adults. Journal of environmental and public health. 2017;2017(1):5042614.
McInerney M, Csizmadi I, Friedenreich CM, Uribe FA, Nettel-Aguirre A, McLaren L, Potestio M, Sandalack B, McCormack GR. Associations between the neighbourhood food environment, neighbourhood socioeconomic status, and diet quality: An observational study. BMC public health. 2016 Dec;16:1-5.

Posted June 21, 2021

Written by Calli Naish & Dalia Ghoneim

Infographic by Calli Naish