Title https://www.englishexamslab.com/en/members/print-exam/61971...

Exercise:

The Text
Air pollution might be linked to poor sleep, say researchers looking into the impact of toxic air on our slumbers. The
study explored the proportion of time participants spent asleep in bed at night compared with being awake - a measure
known as sleep efficiency. The results reveal that greater exposure to nitrogen dioxide and small particulates known as
PM 2.5s are linked with a greater chance of having low sleep efficiency. That, researchers say, could be down to the
impact of air pollution on the body.

'Your nose, your sinuses and the back of your throat can all be irritated by those pollutants so that can cause some sleep
disruption,' said Martha Billings, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington and co-author of the
research. The study drew on air pollution data captured for nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 levels over a five-year period in
six US cities, including data captured near the homes of the 1,863 participants. The data was then used to provide
estimates of pollution levels in the home.

From the results, the team grouped the participants according to their sleep efficiency, finding that the top quarter of the
participants had a sleep efficiency of about 93% or higher, while the bottom quarter had a sleep efficiency of 88% or
less. The team then took all of the participants and split them into four groups based on their exposure to air pollution.
After taking into account a host of factors including age, smoking status and conditions such as obstructive sleep
apnea, the team found that those who were exposed to the highest levels of air pollution over five years were more likely
to be in the bottom group for sleep efficiency than those exposed to the lowest levels.

More specifically, high levels of nitrogen dioxide increased the odds of having low sleep efficiency by almost 60%, while
high levels of PM2.5s increased the odds by almost 50%. Higher levels of pollution were also linked to greater periods of
time spent awake after going to sleep. However, it is not clear whether the pollution itself was affecting the participants'
sleep or whether the poorer sleep quality might be down to other factors linked to pollution, such as the noise generated
by traffic. In addition, data from one weeks sleep might not reflect an individuals typical sleep pattern.

Scott Weichenthal, an epidemiologist from McGill University in Canada, who was not involved in the study, said the
research did not prove that air pollution caused poor sleep, but he added that 'There is certainly increasing evidence that
air pollution affects our body in ways that we didnt appreciate before.' Roy Harrison, professor of environmental health at
the University of Birmingham, said a link between pollution and sleep was not unexpected. 'Previous research has
shown associations between nitrogen dioxide exposures and effects upon various physiological and biochemical
functions in the body, as well as hospital admissions and mortality,' he said. 'It should therefore come as no surprise that
such exposures also affect sleep patterns.'

The Tribune

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Title https://www.englishexamslab.com/en/members/print-exam/61971...

Questions
1) How is sleep efficiency defined in the first paragraph?

A) The amount of time spent sleeping in bed to all the time during the day and night spent awake.
B) The ratio of the time spent sleeping in bed to all the time during the day and night spent awake.
C) The hours spent trying to sleep including naps to all the time spent not sleeping.
D) The ratio of all time spent trying to sleep to time spent actually sleeping.

2) What information, discussed in the second paragraph, did this researchers need as a reference?

A) The levels of nitrogen dioxide in the house over time.

B) The levels of PM2.5 in the house over time.
C) The levels of nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 in the house over time.
D) The levels of nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 and a host of other contaminants in the house over time.

3) Why did the researchers need to separate the participants into groups?

A) To make the research easier to control.

B) To ensure the research was more balanced.
C) To be able to compare the effects of different parameters.
D) To make the research easier to explain.

4) What conclusions, mentioned in the fourth paragraph, are difficult to assess?

A) That sleep patterns are affected by age and gender.

B) Whether pollution was the only cause of sleep being disturbed.
C) Whether the participants' emotional state affected the results.
D) Whether the time between the last meal and sleep played any part on the results.

5) How have the results of the research been contradicted?

A) Some experts feel the data didn't prove what the researchers were trying to show.
B) There is a feeling the research was badly undertaken.
C) The size of the study group was inadequate according to some experts.
D) Some experts would like the study to be repeated.

6) What do all the experts seem to agree about?

A) Analysing sleep patterns is difficult.

B) Pollution must have an effect on our ability to concentrate.
C) That pollution affects how the human body behaves.
D) That sleep patterns need to be studied.

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