If your bedroom is too hot or too cold, it can really affect the quality of your sleep. Research shows that your bedroom temperature affects not only how much sleep you get over the course of the night, but also what kind of sleep you get. For example, studies have shown that an overly warm or cool bedroom can reduce the amount of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the stage where dreaming occurs.
Here are a few tips on how to set the perfect temperature for sleeping.
Take Your Own Temperature First
Are you the kind of person who shivers during the summertime, or do you wake up in the middle of the night feeling like you’re sleeping in a sauna? Your body is trying to tell you something. It’s either too hot or too cold. To dial in the right temperature for a good night’s sleep, start by understanding how your own body regulates temperature during the night.
Even before you go to bed, your body temperature starts dropping, and it continues to fall over the course of the night. By 5 AM, your body temp is about two degrees F cooler than it was when you first lay down. To help keep body temperature within a comfortable range, experts suggest that hot sleepers should avoid memory foam pillows, which can absorb too much heat. They also recommend that cold sleepers wear socks, as cold feet can be particularly disruptive to sound sleep. Figure out which type of sleeper you are first, and then use these strategies to adapt so that your body is the perfect temperature for a rejuvenating night’s sleep.
Warm Up Before Bed
Some people love to have a cup of tea before bed. Others like to take a warm bath. These habits are relaxing, and recent research shows they may actually help to sustain sleep through the night. Dutch researchers found that raising subjects’ skin temperature by a fraction of a degree before bedtime was enough to almost double the proportion of nocturnal slow wave sleep, which is associated with memory function. It also decreased the probability of early morning awakening from a coin flip to almost nil. The results were most pronounced with subjects 50 years or older, indicating that grandma’s nightly cup of chamomile tea may be just what the doctor ordered.
Watch The Thermostat
Although there is no perfect temperature for sleeping, experts recommend a range between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, adjusted for your particular comfort preference. Maintaining that temperature may require running the air conditioning or heat during the hottest days of summer and the coldest days of winter. For the energy- and cost-conscious, overnight heating and cooling may be a disappointing proposition.
Fortunately, with ecovent, you can just heat and cool the rooms you want. By dialing in the right temperature in your bedroom and letting the system adapt and adjust, you can get a good night’s sleep and not worry about wasting money and energy by heating or cooling empty rooms.
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