Can't Sleep? Maybe It's Your Neighborhood

Billie Jean Bateson, a 30-year-old fashion marketer, has lived in some varied places. These include a peaceful part of Bloomington, Indiana, as well as the noisy and densely populated Waikiki, Hawaii. While Bateson slept easily in Bloomington, Waikiki was another story.

Street noise from the bars and restaurants made it tough for her to nod off. But sound wasn’t the only impediment. Bateson was generally ill at ease. “I felt insecure in the neighborhood I lived in, and when the night [fell] it was impossible for me to turn my brain off,” she says. Her sadness at leaving her loved ones behind contributed to her insufficient sleep, and in turn this lack of sleep affected her mood. This went beyond the disruption of a move, she says. “I knew that adapting to a new neighborhood takes time, but when I realized that it seriously affected and undermined my sleep quality, I became worried I would get chronic sleep deprivation.”