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This is the ‘ideal’ bedroom temperature for a good night’s sleep - expert tips for heatwaves
Heatwave tips for setting and keeping your room at the right temperature, as expert suggests 16-18°C is the sweet spot for a good night’s rest (and 16-20°C for babies)
Samantha Sadighi
Samantha Sadighi, Certified Sleep Practitioner at Easy Sleep Solutions, told Appliances Direct,
What is the ideal bedroom temperature for sleep, and why does it matter?
“The sweet spot for most adults is roughly 16–18°C. For babies, the NHS usually recommends 16–20°C. This range facilitates the heat loss required to initiate sleep.
“A cool room acts as a thermal sink, drawing heat away from your skin to help lower your core body temperature in preparation for sleep. Our body operates on a circadian rhythm (aka body clock) where core temperature peaks in the late afternoon and begins to drop about two hours before bedtime. Blood vessels in the hands and feet dilate (vasodilation) to radiate heat away from the core. If a room is too warm, the body cannot shed that heat efficiently, stalling the biological 'green light’ for sleep.”
How does sleeping in a room that’s too warm affect falling asleep and staying asleep?
“A room that is too warm is generally more disruptive than one that is slightly too cool. It delays sleep onset because the brain is busy trying to thermoregulate rather than transitioning into sleep states.
“It leads to increased wakefulness and restlessness as the body struggles to maintain its lower nocturnal temperature, and confuses our brain and body as it's not what it is expecting.”
“Overheating actively interferes with the act of falling asleep, whereas being too cold is really more about comfort.”
How does poor temperatures disrupt deep sleep and REM sleep?
“Even if you don't 'wake up', poor temperatures fragment your sleep architecture. Deep sleep is the body’s most restorative phase, but heat can cause 'micro-arousals' (mini-awakenings that we're not consciously aware of), pushing you back into lighter sleep stages.
“During REM sleep, our internal thermoregulation almost shuts down. If your room is too hot or cold, the brain may wake you up to "fix" the temperature, significantly reducing your total REM time. Ideally, we want a fairly even mix of both Deep and REM sleep. Both are important.”
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Sam Carter’s 5 expert tips for setting the right bedroom temperature during summer heatwaves
Sam Carter, HVAC expert at Appliances Direct said:
“As the warmer weather is creeping in, many households are already starting to think about how to keep their homes at a bearable temperature for sleeping in. With bedrooms often on the upper floors, and with hot air rising, a few practical steps like those below can help prevent these rooms from becoming too hot to sleep. “
Sam Carter
1. Create a cross-breeze at night
“During the night, open windows on opposite sides of your home, ideally on different floors, to let air move naturally from high pressure to low. Even a small gap on one side and a larger opening on the other can pull a surprising breeze through a hallway or bedroom.
“For best results, do this after sunset when outdoor air is cooler than indoors. If you only have windows on one wall, you could aim a fan out of one window to pull fresh air in through another. This trick is more effective than people first think, you’ll often wake up feeling like you’ve slept in a different climate.”
2. Turn off heat-generating appliances
“Anything that plugs in and warms up, such as ovens, dishwashers, tumble dryers, gaming consoles, or even phone chargers left plugged in, can add a surprising amount of heat to a room. Try running dishwashers and washing machines early in the morning, and air-dry clothes outside or on a rack rather than using the tumble dryer.
“Also, swap oven cooking for salads, cold proteins or microwave meals during the hottest part of the day or on an evening right before sleep. You’d be amazed as to how much cooler a home feels when the oven hasn’t been on. Switching to ‘no cooking’ meals costs nothing and saves energy too.”
3. Damp sheet over an open window
“Wet a thin cotton sheet, wring it out so it's not dripping, and hang it loosely over an open window frame. As warm air passes through the damp fabric, the water evaporates and pulls heat out of the air, a simple evaporative cooler anyone can quickly make.
“Re-wet the sheet every couple of hours in the lead up to bedtime, as it dries and you should feel a noticeable drop in temperature near that window. You can then do a final sheet just before you settle down for the night. It works especially well in dry heat, but even in humidity it beats doing nothing. Just make sure air can still move around the edges, or you’ll block the breeze entirely.”
4. Frozen hot water bottle behind fan
“This might sound a bit odd, but fill a hot water bottle with water, freeze it solid and stand it upright behind a standard household fan that's facing towards you. As the fan pulls room air across the frozen surface, it blows noticeably cooler air in your direction, like a DIY air conditioner for a fraction of the cost. Just wrap the bottle in a thin tea towel first to catch condensation and avoid any drips on your floor or fan.
“In the lead up to bedtime, swap in a fresh frozen bottle every few hours, and you’ve got a reusable, near silent chiller that keeps going all evening. It certainly looks unusual, but on a sweltering night when you can’t sleep, you’ll be amazed how well it works.”
5. Invest in a portable aircon unit
“Portable units can be a great place to start when introducing aircon into your home for the first time as they are super effective, highly efficient and excellent value for money. Many modern aircon units come with ‘sleep mode’, meaning it is quieter and any lights are dimmed or turned off to aid better rest at night.”
“Air cons work by pulling in warm air from the room, passing it over cold evaporator coils (filled with refrigerant) to absorb the heat, and then blowing the cooled air back into the room. The heat that was absorbed has to go somewhere, it's best to vent your portable air conditioning unit out of a window, but you can also vent them through a door, or into a corridor if need be. If you don't use the exhaust hose, the unit will simply blast cold air out of the front and hot air out of the back.
For further home cooling and air conditioning products to help you get a better night’s sleep, visit https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/c/heating-and-air-conditioning.
