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My question belongs to health and environment interactions, not to climate.

I recently moved in a house close to a forest. I am living there temporarily.

Wit respect to where I was living before, the apartament is basically the same, 2nd floor, same exposure to sun/wind, same size, same quality of the windows, same bed, same bedroom size (ceiling as well).

My work is of intellectual nature, so I work (partially) on my own schedule from home. I work often into the late night, then I go to bed.

There we go: I feel that my sleep is of worse quality, that I am less productive in my evening work ... and I decided to measure the CO₂ amount in the air. It turns out that it peaks at 1500/1800 ppm in the night. So I am considering that what I feel is due to CO₂-impairment (see this question for a discussion on the topic).

Taking into account that this question of mine is being written under such conditions, I am still wondering if there are studies on how strong is the CO₂ night forcing effect from forests and if it is possible to have peaks in excess of 5000ppm of CO₂ in the night, because of plant respiration not being counteracted by photosynthesis.

EarlGrey
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  • Is there a difference in heating system between your old and new house? – thosphor Dec 06 '23 at 14:06
  • @thospor Not really, the old had a kerosene boiler in the basement, the new has a connection to the district heating system ... but the heating things in both flats are the same (the new house actually had just replaced the kerosene boiler with this connection to the district heating, with no changes in the flats). – EarlGrey Dec 06 '23 at 16:15
  • Do you have similar CO2 readings for your previous place of residence & how do they compare? If you previously lived in a urban environment what were the levels of other gases such as NOx, CO? Also, how do noise levels & lighting levels, internal & external, compare? There's also the issue of smells, pollen etc. Have you compared those? Also, for how long have you been in your current place of residence; have you given yourself enough time to acclimatize & adjust? – Fred Dec 07 '23 at 00:45
  • how did you measure this,what can you tell about the measuring point,any diffence in wind or weather at the sampling point,have you measured this over time like a week or longer? – trond hansen Dec 07 '23 at 06:31
  • 9 mopnths in the new flat now. previous CO2: about 700-800 ppm peak. same sensors ("toys" bought during covid time :D). The flat are at the same distance eastwards (~750m) from "big" infrastructures (highway, waste incinerator). New flat surrounding are definitely quieter and darker. New flat is immediately next to the forest, the old is in between other housing blocks. Smells/pollen I cannot exactly judge, the forest is made of 3-4 dominant trees type, but in November it is not exactly pollination time (and the smell from dead leaves is not so poignant). Wind/weather: I measure inside – EarlGrey Dec 07 '23 at 08:01
  • are you saying the measurment of CO2 is taken inside your house? – trond hansen Dec 08 '23 at 05:27
  • @trondhansen yes, in my bedroom, I do not care how much CO2 is outside, I care how much I have in my bedroom, I breathe the air there :) . I do this since I have already a baseline from previous flat and the number of persons are the same (me + neighbours above/below). – EarlGrey Dec 08 '23 at 07:44
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    If you measure the CO2 outside it will probably answer your question. – Mark Dec 08 '23 at 20:24
  • @Mark I have no electricity outlet outside, the sensor is not made to work outside. – EarlGrey Dec 11 '23 at 07:39
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    A more likely consideration would be simple sound, the sounds of a forest are very different than an urban environment, it might even be too quiet of you are used to noise. you can also consider light levels working late may mean too much light for you to quickly go into a sleep cycle. there are dozens of things more likely than Co2 level. you might want to look into actual sleep science. – John Dec 18 '23 at 22:11
  • @John thanks! light cycle has no effect, because I did not change my working style. Sleep science references are welcome, since the field is fill with bogus things (on-par if not more than psychology) feel free to point me to a good review study, dozen things are ok as long as they not hundred (and my situation is about relative changes, not absolute changes)! – EarlGrey Dec 19 '23 at 10:00
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    Here is starting study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132318300325 but digging around the national sleep foundation might be easier. https://www.thensf.org/ all kinds of things can effect sleep, light, sound, and temperature, changes in diet, even simple things like how you prepare for sleep can matter a lot. https://www.thensf.org/sleep-tips/. I move around a lot doing paleo so I invested a bit of time in researching it. – John Dec 19 '23 at 22:03
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    I grew up next to a turnpike so I never got used to the sounds of a forest and have to use white noise otherwise it is too quiet. thats why sound comes first to my mind, but temperature and light matter just as much. even changes in routine matter. I started turning off as much light as possible, and showering earlier because a bathroom is usually the most brightly lit room in the house and spending too long in bright lights can switch off normal sleep development. going to sleep is a process with a long leadup that can be disrupted so learnings the process can help. – John Dec 19 '23 at 22:12

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