The ideal temperature for sleep is about 65°F (18.3°C), give or take a few degrees. Our body temperature naturally drops a little during sleep, and a cool — but not cold — sleeping environment is ideal to have a good night's sleep. When it's too hot, you're more likely to toss and turn, which disrupts your sleep.
This bit of ancient wisdom is backed by a surprising amount of science. Studies show that sleeping in a cold room—between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit—can help us lose weight, stabilize healthy blood sugar levels, boost immunity, and trigger healthy production of melatonin (one of our primary longevity hormones).
Sleeping in a cold room helps to boost your metabolic process, which in turn helps to lower the risk of suffering from diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. It also boosts the production of growth hormones which help to repair damaged muscle tissues and bone fractures.
“You can't get sick from being cold in general, whether you are outside or inside,” Fecher says.
Set it somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. People sleep better in that temperature range. “Not only in terms of maintaining sleep, but also of falling asleep,” says Alon Avidan, MD, MPH, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center. That also goes for how long you sleep and how well.
18° is the recommended night time bedroom temperature. 19-21° is the recommended daytime temperature range for occupied rooms. 24-27º is too warm and can put babies and young children at risk.
Most scientists agree that the best room temperature for sleep is approximately 18.3 degrees Celsius, although this can vary from person to person between roughly 15.6 to 19.4 degrees Celsius. For most people, a bedroom temperature below 15.6 degrees Celsius is too cold for optimum sleep.
Sleeping in a colder room can improve your sleep quality and even help you combat insomnia episodes. Scientists link this to the fact that our body temperature naturally drops at night. Hence, the metabolism rate slows down, and we spend less energy during sleep.
Create an Optimal Sleep Environment
A common mistake that cold sufferers make is cranking up the heat when they go to bed. A cool bedroom temperature (around 60-68F) will help reduce sweating and waking up at night, which is particularly important if you're experiencing a fever.
4Low indoor temperatures and insulation. Cold air inflames lungs and inhibits circulation, increasing the risk of respiratory conditions, such as asthma attacks or symptoms, worsening of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and infection.
What temperature should you keep your house at? Or better yet, “What is the most energy saving temperature to set my thermostat at?” According to ENERGYSTAR.gov, the ideal home temperature should be between 70 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
Breathing cold air can worsen respiratory issues
Without taking the proper precautions, people with respiratory issues can end up sidelined—and even hospitalized—by coughing, wheezing or shallow breathing.
Sitting or sleeping in a cold room is not good for you and increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and breathing problems. Don't let the cold catch you out - check the weather forecast and be ready for cold weather.
Sleeping with an open window can negatively impact your health as well. While cold air itself can't make you sick — colds and flus occur because germs overwhelm a person's immune system — it can potentially dry out nasal cavities, resulting in increased mucus production and a possible sinus infection.
“Looking at the available research, most studies agree that a temperature between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit is optimal for sleeping, with temperatures above 75 degrees and below 54 degrees disruptive to sleep.
Research suggests that wearing socks to bed can help people not only fall asleep faster, but sleep longer and wake up fewer times throughout the night. One study found that young men wearing socks fell asleep 7.5 minutes faster, slept 32 minutes longer, and woke up 7.5 times less often than those not wearing socks.
The ideal healthy home temperature should be no higher than 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. When you're at home during the day, you'll be quite comfortable at this temperature.
Plus, cold weather keeps people indoors, and viruses can spread more easily in close quarters. And although laboratory research suggests cold temperatures can make immune cells less effective, Banks said in the end, viruses – not the cold weather – are what make you sick.
It turns out cold temperatures can increase your body's brown fat. A study dropped the temperatures of sleeping participants to 66 degrees for 10 hours each night for a month. This led to an increase in brown fat, which may help burn more calories.
Cold rooms keep perishable products chilled or frozen to slow down deterioration and prevent bacterial growth, so they'll be safe to use and consume for longer. This includes pre-prepared and pre-cooked meals, which is a handy way of saving time.
Sleeping in a cold room, for instance, raises the basal metabolism rate, making you burn more calories doing “nothing” (other than breathing and keeping your organs functioning) than you would in a warmer room.
According to pulmonologist Dr. Michael Scharf, inhaling cold air may cause bronchial irritation and cough. If you have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the cold air “may induce bronchial tightening or constriction leading to cough, wheeze and shortness of breath.”
Low temperatures can increase the likelihood of getting sick. The body is not as effective at fighting a virus when cold air enters the nose and upper airways, so viruses such as the common cold, the flu and COVID-19 often spread more easily in the winter.
Cooler air is more dense than warmer air. Warm air can actually hold more moisture because molecules are farther apart, making more room for moisture. Cold air is dense and compact; it's "thicker," so when you breathe in you get more oxygen. Thicker air also means there's more for a crane's wings to push against.