Artificial Light at Night Accompanied by Noise Leads to Poor Educational Achievements of Schoolchildren

Abstract If schoolchildren are exposed to artificial light at night and noise, they do not sleep well and wake up tired in the morning, which can adversely affect their school grades. In this study, we verify this hypothesis by measuring nighttime light and noise in schoolchildren’s bedrooms and comparing these measurements with their educational achievements in various subjects. During the six-week study, the schoolchildren used the AndroSensor smartphone app to monitor illumination and noise and the ZeppLife app to monitor sleep. The measurements were compared to the grades the schoolchildren obtained during the corresponding school quarter. Grades in Arabic, Hebrew, English, mathematics, humanities, and sciences were analysed separately. The analysis reveals that exposure to artificial light before sleep was significantly associated with low grades in all subjects, but particularly with grades in mathematics and sciences (p<0.01). Although the same effect was found for noise, the combined effect of nighttime light and noise was stronger if the two types of exposure occurred simultaneously. As we conclude, exposure to light and noise tends to interfere with educational achievements of schoolchildren and should therefore be a public policy concern.