Sleep quality: Design of bedroom ventilation and evaluation within the scope of current standards

Abstract

Indoor air pollution is one of the leading environmental risks to public health considering people now spending nearly 90 % of their day in indoor environments. A significant portion of this time indoors is devoted to sleeping, making it crucial to address the impact of indoor environmental conditions on sleep quality. International ventilation standards such as ASHRAE and CEN, as well as country-specific guidelines, offer valuable recommendations for ventilation design in residential buildings, including bedrooms. This study aims to evaluate the importance of determining ventilation rates in sleeping spaces using Indoor Air Quality Procedure (IAQP) compared to Ventilation Rate Procedure (VRP) in accordance with current standards. Here, the IAQP approach for determining air flow rate is based on the CO₂ balance by maintaining CO₂ levels in any sleeping environment below specified upper limits of 750 ppm and 1000 ppm. This study focused on the adult population, which forms the majority of society, with analyses conducted for both single and double occupancy sleeping conditions.

The volume of environment where ventilation is not required during sleep ($V_f$) is inaccessible in conventional sleeping environments (10–21.6 m³ per person). Therefore, proper ventilation is of great importance for any sleeping space that is smaller than the $V_f$. The results of the analyses show that for the conventional sleeping volumes, CO₂ levels reach 750 ppm (upper limit for comfortable sleep) in the first hour and increase to the disturbed sleep zone in about 2 h. Additionally, a chart outlining the necessary ventilation flow rates is suggested for maintaining maximum CO₂ concentrations of 750 and 1000 ppm during different sleep durations and in various sleeping environments with varying volumes. Finally, the ventilation rates determined based on unit area and/or occupancy levels in standards (referred to as VRP) may not always be adequate or may be excessive in order to maintain CO₂ concentrations below the recommended limits of 750 and 1000 ppm. It is advised to utilize demand-controlled ventilation by considering the system design as recommended by IAQP.