What is The Ideal Room Temperature for Sleep?

Many of us are familiar with waking up from our sleep, sweating, having slowly overheated during our rest. As the temperatures become more extreme in the winter and the summer months, it is difficult to adjust our home environments to make sleep comfortable, resulting in hours of struggling in our sheets, desperate to get some shut-eye. 

If extreme temperatures are a common issue for your room at bedtime, excess heat or cold can affect your energy levels, rest, or overall cleanliness - even if the causes haven't been obvious.

• frequently waking up during sleep
• excess sweating in bed 
• increased thirst
• struggling to fall asleep
• drenched hair when waking up
• increased acne
• headaches
• feeling sleep deprived during the day

• mold growth on walls - in turn causing skin or respiratory irritation, as well as allergic reactions
• increased susceptibility to getting colds
• shivering
• damp patches on walls
• freezing of pipes

Finding a more suitable temperature for your room may improve your sleep and overall health. For example:

• minimising waking up in the middle of the night
• longer, higher quality, deeper sleep
• cleaner skin, hair, and clothes
• going longer between required pyjamas and bedding washes
• less frequent colds
• decreased allergy symptoms
• higher energy levels during the day

Having bedding suitable for your room temperature is essential for staying comfortable and improving your sleep. For duvets especially, finding the right tog - lower togs for hot climates and higher for cold - can make a huge difference in helping you fall (and stay) asleep.

If your bedroom tends to pivot from roasting hot to freezing cold on a whim, an all-season duvet that adapts to external temperatures would be highly beneficial. 

Overall, it is up to your personal preferences to determine how hot or cold your room should be. Everyone is different, and certainly some prefer to feel chilled or toasty as they drift off.

Your temperature preference may be determined by:

• hormones (such as hot flashes during menopause)
• allergies
• gender (studies show women tend to feel colder than men)
• age

According to The Sleep Foundation, it is medically recommended to keep your bedroom temperature at approximately 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (or 15.6 to 20 degrees Celsius). 

It must be noted that this is slightly different for infants, and that their recommended temperature is 69 degrees Fahrenheit (20.5 degrees Celsius). High temperatures have been linked to an increased risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), which is why experts recommend avoiding blankets and dressing them in approved clothing.