ASHRAE Journal - April 2021 - 56

IEQ APPLICATIONS
Column

ASHRAE TRP 1837

Reviewing How Bedroom
Ventilation Affects IAQ
And Sleep Quality
BY MIZUHO AKIMOTO, STUDENT MEMBER ASHRAE; CHANDRA SEKHAR, PH.D., FELLOW ASHRAE; MARIYA P. BIVOLAROVA, PH.D.; CHENXI LIAO, STUDENT MEMBER ASHRAE;
XIAOJUN FAN, ASSOCIATE MEMBER ASHRAE; JELLE LAVERGE, PH.D., MEMBER ASHRAE; LI LAN, PH.D., MEMBER ASHRAE; PAWEL WARGOCKI, PH.D., MEMBER ASHRAE

Good sleep is essential for our health and daytime functioning; seven to nine hours
of sleep each night are recommended for people age 18 to 64.1,2 Noise, light, temperature and air quality affect our sleep. However, very few regulations address indoor air
quality (IAQ) in bedrooms, and even fewer studies examine the relationship between
sleep quality, ventilation and IAQ.3 This column reviews 10 studies reported in nine
publications4 - 12 that examined whether providing clean air to a sleeping person
will result in improved sleep quality. The column also provides information on the
expected effects on sleep when bedroom ventilation and IAQ are inadequate.
Sekhar, et al., reviewed 17 international standards
dealing with ventilation in dwellings and reported
they generally require an air change rate of about
0.5 h-1.3 The mean CO2 concentrations that have
been reported in bedrooms ranged from 428 ppm to
2,585 ppm, although peak and steady state were higher,
and the mean air change rates were as low as 0.2 h-1 and
as high as 4.9 h-1. In bedrooms with natural ventilation
during the heating season or when air conditioning was

operated during the cooling season or hot periods, very
low ventilation rates were measured, and they resulted
in high CO2 concentrations.

Published Studies on Bedroom Ventilation, IAQ & Sleep Quality
Seven of the 10 studies reviewed in this column are
illustrated in Figure 1, and the reasons for exclusions of
three are given below. Figure 1 also shows the negative
effects of high CO2 levels on sleep quality. The objective

Mizuho Akimoto, is a graduate student in the Department of Architecture, Waseda University, Tokyo. Chandra Sekhar, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Building, School
of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore. Mariya P. Bivolarova, Ph.D., is a researcher in the Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark.
Xiaojun Fan is a Ph.D. student, and Pawel Wargocki, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the International Centre for Indoor Environment and Energy, Department of Civil Engineering,
Technical University of Denmark. Chenxi Liao is a Ph.D. student, and Jelle Laverge, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent
University, Ghent, Belgium. Li Lan, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Architecture, School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai.
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