Integrating an Eco-Feedback Strategy to Enhance the Indoor Environmental Quality and Sleep Quality in Italian Bedrooms

This study examines the short-term impact of an “eco-feedback” strategy, based on an awareness-raising information campaign and an experimental campaign, on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters and sleep quality in Italian bedrooms. Forty-one participants from Cassino, Italy, monitored the IEQ in their bedroom environments during the winter and spring seasons and assessed their sleep quality using the Groningen Sleep Quality Scale before and after receiving awareness-raising information. The experimental analysis revealed that, even if the IEQ and self-reported sleep quality before receiving the information were not representative of good sleep conditions (e.g., 94% of the volunteers slept in bedrooms with a median indoor CO2 concentration >800 ppm, the equivalent continuous sound pressure level was always >30 dB, and the self-reported sleep quality conditions were characteristic of disrupted sleep or intermediate sleep disturbance), the subjects were not able to obtain significant changes in IEQ parameters after the information campaign and that, consequently, no noticeable changes in sleep quality were obtained as well. The limited effectiveness of the eco-feedback strategy adopted in this study can be attributed to the fact that the proposed approach only led to behavioral changes characterized by a limited effect on the indoor environmental quality. This was mostly due to the period under investigation: as an example, the low nighttime outdoor temperatures did not allow for an improvement in the building ventilation during the night.