Sep 03, 2026 14:00:00
If your neighborhood has a ‘feeling of being surrounded by buildings and trees,’ you may be able to sleep longer.
Ensuring sufficient sleep is crucial for both physical and mental health, and in recent years, factors such as
bedroom ventilation and the surrounding environment have been shown to affect sleep. Now, a research team led by Professor Daisuke Matsushita of the Graduate School of Human Life Science at Osaka Metropolitan University has published research findings indicating that the feeling of being ‘enclosed’ in the surrounding area of one’s home affects sleep.Urban eye-level landscapes and sleep health: Cross-sectional evidence from a megacity using machine learning for objective and perceptual assessment – ScienceDirecthttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360132326005160The ‘sense of enclosure’ in urban landscapes protects sleep: AI image recognition investigates the relationship between the home environment and sleep | Osaka Metropolitan Universityhttps://www.omu.ac.jp/info/research_news/entry-24567.htmlEnclosed neighborhood streets are linked to better sleep, study findshttps://www.psypost.org/enclosed-neighborhood-streets-are-linked-to-better-sleep-study-finds/ Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are serious public health problems, and have been linked to cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and even depression and dementia. It is known that sleep is influenced not only by work schedules, lifestyle habits, and biological factors such as genetics, but also by environmental factors. The research team used AI image recognition technology to analyze the impact of the surrounding landscape and impression on sleep. The subjects were 1,089 workers aged 40-59 who commuted to central Tokyo, and all lived on the third floor or lower of their buildings. First, they collected 214,000 Street View images associated with the zip code area where the subjects’ homes were located. They then fed these images into an AI and used a technique called semantic segmentation, which classifies pixels within the images to detect specific objects, automatically classifying elements such as buildings, roads, fences, the sky, and street trees. Next, based on this data, we quantified three indicators: ‘sense of enclosure,’ which shows the proportion of vertical elements such as buildings and trees that occupy the field of vision; ‘green view ratio,’ which shows the proportion of greenery such as street trees that occupy the field of vision; and ‘visual walkability,’ which shows the level of availability of pedestrian facilities such as sidewalks and guardrails.
Furthermore, we trained a machine learning model with impression evaluation data of cityscapes (Place Pulse 2.0) rated by approximately 90,000 people in 56 cities worldwide, enabling it to evaluate subjective impressions such as ‘sense of safety,’ ‘sense of vitality,’ and ‘sense of affluence’ from images of Japanese cityscapes
Participants reported their bedtime and wake-up time for the past month, and answered questionnaires about daytime sleepiness and insomnia symptoms. Based on these results, the research team identified sleep durations and sleep problems, and compared them with the results of Street View image analysis. The results showed that people who feel a strong sense of ‘enclosure’ around their homes tend to experience fewer symptoms of insomnia and daytime sleepiness, and have longer sleep durations. People living in areas with a strong sense of ‘safety’ in their neighborhoods also tend to sleep longer. Furthermore, studies suggest that having plenty of greenery, such as street trees, may increase the sense of safety in a city and potentially extend sleep time, while having many sidewalks and signs may decrease that sense of safety and shorten sleep time. Mr. Matsushita stated, ‘This research offers important insights into creating healthy cities and choosing a place to live. From an urban planning perspective, building layouts that create a moderate sense of enclosure, planting street trees, and landscape designs that enhance a sense of safety may contribute to the sleep health of residents. In particular, it is important not only to increase greenery but also to position it in a way that makes people feel safe. Furthermore, when pursuing visual walkability, a comprehensive design is required that does not compromise the sense of safety in the area, including security lighting and ensuring visibility.’
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Sep 03, 2026 14:00:00
in Science, Posted by log1h_ik
