Sleep experts believe the best temperature for great sleep is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. But in addition to making you uncomfortable and interfering with healthy sleep patterns, being too hot at any time of day or night can cause health risks like dehydration and heat stroke.
Tips for Keeping Cool During Sleep
A cool or lukewarm bath or shower can help with that, suggests Raymann. For most people, the temperature in the bedroom at night should not exceed 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and it should be even lower for people that sleep best in a cool bedroom.
You really cannot live comfortably without air conditioning or central air. You can survive but spend a lot of time outside in the shade. And without air conditioning, kitchens get too hot to cook so you eat cold foods in summer or cook at night or outside.
Sleeping in an air-conditioned room helps avoid heat-related illnesses like dehydration, heatstroke, and heat fatigue. Standard AC filters can keep dust and other particles from getting into the system, but they won't clean the air.
Napping in the shade
Possibly the simplest way to beat the heat before air conditioning was to take a nap in a grassy area under a tree. Trees can be found almost everywhere, even in the heart of New York City and provide plenty of shade for people nearby.
Sleep experts believe the best temperature for great sleep is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. But in addition to making you uncomfortable and interfering with healthy sleep patterns, being too hot at any time of day or night can cause health risks like dehydration and heat stroke.
During sleep, you breathe less often and less deeply and take in less oxygen. These changes can cause problems in people who have health problems such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Prepare ahead of time for hot days this summer, especially if air conditioning is not available in your home. Seek medical care immediately if you or someone else has symptoms of heat-related illness like muscle cramps, headaches, nausea or vomiting.
“The consensus among most scientists is that anything higher than 75 or 80 is bad for sleep and potentially detrimental to health,” Baniassadi said. Heat affects sleep because the body signals the brain that it's time to fall asleep by lowering its core temperature. Sleeping in a hot room makes this difficult.
"It's more energy efficient to keep the unit on but turn the temperature setting up," she advises. Turning off the AC unit during the day is not necessarily a bad thing — it is a myth that the AC unit has to work extra-hard to cool off a hot house.
Keeping Cool Indoors
Many Amish homes are built with plenty of windows to help circulate the air and bring in the cooler overnight temperatures. They open the windows on the top floors to help the heat escape while the family retreats to the lower grounds within their homes for comfort.
You should put ice in front of your fan. Alongside its approval from Beatrice, Oleg Stepanchukovski, an interior design coordinator and home expert at Patio Productions, adds that this technique will offer relief from high temperatures quickly.
Sleeping in a cold environment is not ideal for people with underlying health conditions. Researchers have found that cold air can inflame the lungs and inhibit circulation, which can be challenging for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Some research suggests that sleeping naked can promote better sleep, leading to various mental and physical health benefits. By encouraging core body temperature regulation, naked sleeping may help support reproductive function, skin health, cortisol levels, metabolic control, and more.
“Heat is a huge disruptor for REM sleep,” Dr. Drerup says. With the heat of the room, your body temperature will also rise, thus undoing the sleep initiation process entirely. If your bedroom temperature is above 70° F, it's too hot.
The Egyptian Sleep Method is pretty simple: sleepers wrap themselves in a wet towel when it's too hot to slumber comfortably. This trick supposedly dates back to ancient Egypt when they didn't have the modern conveniences to help them with the high temperatures.
Several studies have shown that increased nighttime temperature leads to insufficient sleep. Exposure to heat limits the natural drop in body temperature, promoting wakefulness and reducing the amount of time spent in deep sleep and REM sleep.
CALIFORNIA OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS BOARD
Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment. (a) Scope and Application. (1) This section applies to all indoor work areas where the temperature equals or exceeds 82 degrees Fahrenheit when employees are present.
Just like the lack of heating in winter, having no A/C in the summer is also considered an emergency maintenance issue. As temperatures rise, staying in your apartment without working A/C isn't just unpleasant; it could also be potentially dangerous.
Take heat seriously, it can kill
The elderly and people who don't have access to air conditioning are especially vulnerable, but everyone is at risk, experts warn. "The stresses on your organs to keep you alive when it's really hot are intense.
For example, excessive heat can cause drowsiness, and in a place where heavy machinery is operated, for instance, this can cause a potentially lethal loss of concentration.
Turning off your AC promotes better sleep
'However, shallow temperatures, especially during sleep, can interfere with sleep quality and overall restfulness. ' Though that is not only the obvious drawback of getting cold at night.
CO2 levels that are higher than 1150 ppm will typically occur in bedrooms that are not fitted with a ventilation system and where windows and doors are closed. Above 2600 ppm: Insufficient ventilation—both sleep quality and next-day performance are adversely affected.
When you sleep high, THC slows down brain activity. This calming effect makes it easier to fall asleep, especially for those with anxiety or sleep disorders. However, while short-term use might help you stay asleep, the long-term effects on brain function and memory can become concerning.