Leela McKinnon

This project explores the sleep patterns of people from the Wix’rika Indigenous group in Jalisco, Mexico, whose communities are undergoing rapid socio-economic change. Wix’rika individuals are increasingly moving to cities to expand their economic opportunities, which introduces significant changes to their living spaces and social support systems. These changes have potential consequences for their sleep. Therefore, my goal is to understand how urban migration affects the living environments and social support systems of Indigenous Wix’rika people in Mexico, and how these changes affect their sleep. I will use actigraph wristwatches to measure participants’ sleep patterns and survey measures to quantify social support. I will conduct semi-structured interviews to better understand how the experience of migration affects social environment, sleep, and overall health. Increasing global urbanization highlights the need for research into the health concerns that are exacerbated by urban living, and which may disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. Furthermore, Indigenous people and migrant workers in Mexico face increased vulnerability to health inequities, so findings will identify what role sleep plays in current health inequities in Indigenous and migrant populations.