Adequate sleep is vital to the human body. It allows the body to rejuvenate and repair damaged or stressed tissues, strengthens the immune system, synthesizes hormones and consolidates memories and information. In other words, adequate sleep helps to prevent illness, makes you more alert and may even lift your mood too. But knowing sleep is good for you and managing to get enough of it are two different things. One way to improve your quality of sleep is to maintain the correct sleeping temperature in your home.
What is the ideal temperature for sleeping?
Like many things in life, there is no one answer to the question. Each person’s body has its own idea of what the perfect sleeping temperature is. What one person finds cozy, another might find downright chilly. However, experts agree that for most people, a temperature between 60 and 67 is ideal for sleeping. The very young, the elderly and people with some medical conditions may have issues regulating body temperature and require warmer temperatures when they sleep. Keep this in mind when determining the nighttime temperatures in your home.
Should you lower the temperature at night?
As a general rule, yes. The human body drops in temperature to prepare for sleep and the best way to help it do that is to lower the temperature in the room. Rooms that are too warm may prevent you from falling asleep easily and may cause you to get a restless night’s sleep. But beware, dropping the thermostat too low can also interfere with your sleep. If you wake up either hot or cold and are unable to go back to sleep right away, you may need to adjust the thermostat to match your ideal sleeping temperature.
How do you find the best sleeping temperature?
The best way to find the ideal sleeping temperature in your home is trial and error. Begin by setting the thermostat back 2 to 3 degrees from your typical daytime temperature and assess how well you sleep. If you (or family members) wake up in the night because you are too cold or too warm and can’t go back to sleep, you need to adjust the thermostat accordingly. Typically, a change of 2 to 3 degrees at a time will allow you to fine-tune your ideal sleeping temperature within a week.
Can you just get used to a lower temperature?
If you are trying to save on your energy bill by setting the heat back at night, you may be able to adjust to a lower temperature than your body naturally craves by making a few adjustments. Try these tricks for keeping warm and comfy even when the heat is lower than you would prefer.
- Add an extra blanket. This may make you feel comfortable enough to get some restful sleep.
- Wear socks to bed. Not only will socks help your body regulate body temperature, they will help you go to sleep faster too, says The National Sleep Foundation.
- Place a folded blanket over the foot of the bed to keep feet warm if you prefer not to wear socks to bed.
If you are using a programmable thermostat to set back the temperature at night, set it so temperatures decrease an hour before bedtime to signal it is time for sleeping and induce sleepiness. Buckeye Heating & Cooling is just a call away and can help you with all your heating and cooling needs.
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