The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends setting your thermostat no lower than 64 degrees (F) in the Winter months while people are in the home. If there are infants or elderly individuals, they recommend keeping the temperature at 70 degrees at a minimum.
While some area doctors said they had no data on when a cold house becomes unsafe, they pretty much agreed that anything below 50 degrees means it's time to find safer shelter. The elderly and infants and toddlers will be affected by the cold before healthy adults.
It's important to note that an indoor temperature of less than 16°C increases the risk of asthma and other respiratory conditions while going below 12°C puts the cardiovascular system under stress. A cold home can also increase your risk of depression and confusion.
What's the Ideal Room Temperature for Each Peak Season? The ideal room temperature can vary based on the outside environment and your individual preferences. In general, it's safe to increase indoor temperature to 80 degrees in summer and decrease indoor air temperature to 55 degrees in winter when you're not home.
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.
Sleeping too hot
“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.
For indoor workplaces where the temperature reaches 82 degrees Fahrenheit, employers must take steps to protect workers from heat illness. Some of the requirements include providing water, rest, cool-down areas, methods for cooling down the work areas under certain conditions, and training.
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.
The Safest Temperature for Humans and Pets
Heat can be dangerous, so you don't want to let your home get too hot. The absolute highest you should set your thermostat is around 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
If it's 90 degrees outside, most people would set their AC to a perfectly comfortable temperature of 68-72°F.
However, the recommendation regarding risk of exposure to high indoor temperatures is only "conditional". Minimal-risk high temperatures range from about 21 to 30 °C (70 to 86 °F) depending on the region, with maximum acceptable temperatures between 25 and 32 °C (77 and 90 °F).
"The mucous membranes can dry out, crack a little, allowing viruses to seed and produce disease," said physician assistant Lou Melini. That is what can happen in a hot home. "To crank it up to 86 degrees, I think that's a bit excessive. It's drying and counterproductive," Melini said.
In general, the ideal room temperature and your home for both efficiency and comfort fall somewhere between 68° and 76°F.
More importantly, it's a good idea that you keep your room at a good temperature to avoid any health problems especially for the elderly. As mentioned on the above table, your living room should ideally be between 21°C – 23°C and your bedroom should be between 17°C – 19°C.
People who live with long-term health conditions are more vulnerable to the effects of heat, including cardiovascular conditions and diabetes – with the temperature in their homes making it much harder to manage their health.
The best room temperature for sleep is approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius). This may vary by a few degrees from person to person, but most doctors recommend keeping the thermostat set between 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 20 degrees Celsius) for the most comfortable sleep.
An influential limit. After an influential study in 2010, climate researchers often use a wet bulb temperature of 35 degrees C — roughly equivalent to 95 degrees F at 100% humidity — as an upper limit for human survival and adaptability without cooling.
If you want to keep cool while saving energy in the summer, set your thermostat to 72 degrees when you're home. Whenever you're not at home or are asleep, consider increasing the temperature to between 78 and 80 degrees for even further savings. It's advisable to keep your home below 80 degrees throughout the summer.
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.
The World Health Organization recommends a thermostat setting no lower than 68 degrees while you're home. If you have children or seniors in your house, that number increases to at least 70 degrees. If your house is too cold, it can cause problems with blood pressure and circulation, as well as affect your heart rate.
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.
Heat Index
Caution (80°F – 90°F HI); • Extreme Caution (91°F – 103°F HI); • Danger (103°F – 124°F HI); and, • Extreme Danger (126°F or higher HI).
According to the new standards, all indoor places of employment where the temperature reaches 82 degrees Fahrenheit or above must comply with regulations around access to water, cool-down areas, acclimatization, training, and more.
Similarly, closing our windows and using heat can increase your exposure to lung irritants, such as dust and allergens. This can cause itchy and watery eyes, coughing, headaches, sneezing, and more.