Wits survey links loadshedding to worse sleep in students
Sleep scientists Joshua Davimes and Karine Scheuermaier surveyed more than 1,100 University of the Witwatersrand students in 2023. Nearly three in four said loadshedding affected their sleep, and students with backup power had about 60% lower odds of reporting worse sleep.
The peer-reviewed study appears in Sleep Health. Broken sleep was the most common complaint, and outages between 8pm and half an hour past midnight were the most disruptive. Only 40% of students had backup power, and solar users reported worse sleep less often than generator users. The survey was self-reported and done at one university, so it shows an association, not a cause.