- Stoke-on-Trent is the best city in the UK to get a good night’s sleep
- Edinburgh is the greenest city in the UK to sleep in
- Aberdeen is one of the least crowded cities in the UK to sleep in
A new study finds that Aberdeen is one of the best cities in the UK for getting a good night’s sleep. The low rates of crowding and high air quality makes the city one of the UK’s top five cities for a good night’s sleep.
Sleep experts at Unbeatable Blinds analysed the available data for 28 UK cities regarding four of the biggest factors that can affect your quality of sleep. These factors were:
- Comfort and safety
- Crowdedness
- Green space and air pollution
- Noise levels
By drawing together the data for each city from these four areas, a grading system was created to generate an overall score.
Comfort & Safety Rating
Feeling comfortable and at ease is of great importance when trying get a good night’s sleep, especially when you’re away from home. Using TripAdvisor data, the number of four- and five-star hotels were collated for each of the cities in this study. The number of crimes committed per 1000 people was also calculated because feeling safe is also paramount to getting a good sleep.
Taking the averages of both sets of data into account, Edinburgh comes out in second place as the safest and most comfortable city in the UK. The city has a combination of a very low crime rate and a large number of four- and five-star hotels making for a comfortably safe city break.
Glasgow ranks very high up in the comfort and safety rating.
Crowded Rating
If you are not a big fan of crowds, then there may be some UK cities worth avoiding. Using data from Civil Aviation Authority and various other sources, four key areas that contribute to crowdedness were looked at: population density, the number of flights coming into the city each year, the number of day trippers visiting each year and the student population of a city.
It’s no surprise that London fared worst in all four areas, but where Hull and Leeds don’t do so well for comfort and safety, they make up for it by being less crowded. Aberdeen is the third least crowded city in the UK with a small number of day trip visitors and low population density.
Green Rating
The green rating of each city has been determined by looking into the Air Pollution Index as well as the number of Green Flag awarded spaces (well managed green parks and spaces). These two data sets provided a great insight into the air quality of each of the cities in the study. The quality of air that you breathe in can have a massive impact on how well you sleep.
The study discovered that Edinburgh is the greenest city in the UK with its unique location around Arthur’s Seat and 112 parks surrounded by Scottish countryside. At the other end of the spectrum, Hull is bottom of the list once again.
Aberdeen scores very well in this category with excellent air quality.
Noise Rating
Naturally, a noisy environment can wreak havoc on your quality of sleep, so discovering which cities suffer from the most noise pollution is vital to the investigation. The noise rating of each city in the study has been calculated by looking into night-time traffic noise, the number of flights per year and the student population.
The quietest city in the UK has been revealed to be York. With the fewest students, lowest amount of night-time traffic noise and overhead flights York is certainly the most peacefully quiet city in the study. Once again, Stoke-on-Trent comes in second place, with very few students and a tiny amount of night-time traffic noise.
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen all made it into the top ten noisiest cities in the UK. All three have fairly high levels of night-time noise and a large number of flights per year.
The overall best UK city for a good night’s sleep
Stoke-on-Trent is the winner after drawing together the data from the four areas analysed. Stoke-on-Trent was the second quietest city, the second least crowded city, and it came out about halfway in the rankings for comfortability and green rating. If you are planning a visit, make sure to head down to Newport Pottery or the Emma Bridgewater factory; Stoke-on-Trent is the global capital for ceramics!
A spokesperson from Unbeatable Blinds commented on the study:
“There seems to be a pretty distinct North-South divide as many of the top ten cities are situated North of the Midlands, whilst many of the bottom ten are in the South. Some cities in the study may be seen as less desirable to sleep in than others, but this study can offer insight for those who value sleep as a top priority when taking a city break.”
