Academics from Western Sydney University and the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand, have teamed up to increase their understanding of the “sopite syndrome” – the development of drowsiness of workers in tall buildings.
“Sopite syndrome can be described as drowsiness caused by prolonged periods of motion, for example the motion-induced drowsy feeling babies get when they are rocked to sleep,” said Professor Kenny Kwok from the Institute for Infrastructure Engineering, at WSU.
‘This syndrome has also been found to affect occupants of high-rise buildings due to the swaying of the structure caused by strong winds,” he said.
Recent work has found that building motion can significantly impact the wellbeing of office workers and that sopite syndrome may be involved by reducing the rate of work – sleepiness – and the capacity for work, he said.
“Although there are no obvious visual cues of motion, structures in our ears sensitive to gravity and acceleration are capable of detecting subtle changes of our head position in space brought by the swaying of a tall building.
Professor Kwok, along with Professor Vaughan Macefield from the School of Medicine, WSU, and Dr Darren Walton, from the University of Canterbury, have received funding from the Australian Research Council though its Discovery Projects scheme, to conduct a research project
The research will determine the amount of building motion that will induce sopite syndrome, uncover other potential causes of motion induced performance loss and identify the physiological changes in sopite syndrome.
The data from the research will also help identify ways to mitigate the effects of motion sickness, and strategies to design buildings that are less prone to sway in strong winds.
