Climate change and its impact on children and adolescents sleep

Objective: This review discusses the impact of climate change on sleep, anxiety, and eating in the pediatric population.

Data source: This is a nonsystematic literature review based on a search using PubMed and MeSH terms in titles and abstracts with these keywords: climate change, sleep, greenhouse effect, children, and adolescents.

Data synthesis: Climate change events are associated with human intervention in the ecosystem, having a strong impact on cognitive functions, physical and mental health, as well as subjective well-being, particularly in youth. Climate change is caused by human activity with changes in the composition of the global atmosphere caused by emissions of gases, such as carbon dioxide, which increase the greenhouse effect. This review discusses the impact of climate change on sleep, anxiety, and feeding in the pediatric population.

Conclusions: Early detection of vulnerability conditions, along with adaptation strategies is necessary to address climate stressors with a focus on healthy sleep and eco-anxiety. Pediatrics has an important role to play in protecting healthy sleep in children.