Related to Sleep Disorders Temperature for the Best Sleep: FAQ You've followed every tip known for how to sleep better. Then you get in bed and realize the temperature is causing you to toss and turn. Here are answers to common questions about the best temp to snooze. What’s the best temperature for sleeping? “The right temperature -- typically a bit on the cool side -- can help with sleep quality immensely,” says W. Christopher Winter, MD, director of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine Center in Virginia. Sleep can be disrupted by temperatures anywhere below 65 or above 75. The sweet spot for great sleep is between 68 and 72 degrees. “That’s really optimal for sleep,” says Michael J. Breus, PhD, author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor's 4-Week Program to Better Sleep. For most people, heat interferes with sleep more than cold. What can I do to sleep well when I can’t control the temperature? Coping with heat is tougher.

Breus faces that problem on a regular basis. He lives in Arizona, where temperatures soar to 114 degrees and higher. “Even with air conditioning, trying to cool a house down to 75 degrees can be extraordinarily difficult,” he says. Here are his tips for sleeping well in a warm room. Take a cool shower before bed. Keep a bottle of ice water on your nightstand. A few sips can cool you down. Place a cool, wet towel on your forehead. Heat tends to leave your body through your head, and a wet towel can speed up heat loss. Use a thin sheet, even if it’s very warm. “Almost everyone needs some small bit of tactile sensation to help them relax,” Breus says. Is the best sleep temperature different for different people? Most people have a comfortable sleep-temperature range of several degrees. That range can vary from person to person. Your perfect sleep temperature may be too high or too low for someone else. Your preferred temperature can also change as you get older.

Aging thins the layer of fat just under your skin, which naturally insulates against heat and cold. Your best temperature range at age 50 may be narrower than it was at 30. Health issues, such as the circulatory problem Raynaud's disease, can make you chilly. What about a man's vs. a woman's sleep-temperature needs? Men tend to have a steady body temperature, so one consistent sleep temperature tends to work well for them. Women’s body temperatures can vary based on their menstrual cycle. Once menopause begins, hot flashes and night sweats can leave a woman feeling too hot one minute and too cold the next.Using the proper temperature setting on your thermostat and figuring out what temperature to set your thermostat to can save you a ton of money each year…and saving money on energy costs is a hot topic these days.  Those of you who read our articles regularly, know that we are a U.S. Veteran-Owned company in Southern California, and pride ourselves in giving people honest, straight answers to their questions.  

Did you know that in Santa Clarita, California your air conditioner is responsible for around half of your electric bill in the summer?  People are catching on and we are often asked, “what temperature should I set my thermostat to?”  ac and heater window unitsThere are many answers to this question and I’d be wrong if I said that there was one trick, one magical thermostat setting that will make all of your dreams come true and save you millions of dollars a year.  no power to my ac compressorWhat temperature to set your thermostat to depends on a range of factors including season, humidity level and how often you are in and out of the house.  ac unit does not have fusesAs such, I will start by saying that you should set your thermostat to the temperature that is most comfortable for you.  

Why have an air conditioner if you are hot all of the time?  It kind of defeats the purpose.  However, most people have a temperature range that is most comfortable for them, not one magical number.  So this article will discuss the most cost effective temperature ranges to keep your thermostat at to keep you comfortable and help save you money this year. If you are reading this, then you are more than likely concerned with what temperature to set your thermostat to in the summer, but we will also address winter heating setting in the next section.  Energy efficiency is a multi-pronged subject, and it is important for you to understand that if you forget everything else that you read in this article, remember that what temperature you set your thermostat to is only one factor to help save you money on energy.  Others to take a look at are what size your air conditioner is, as well as a few other things.  Here are a couple articles I’d recommend to get you started: Best time of year to buy an air conditioner.

What size central air conditioner is right for my house? How to lower your electric bill in the summer. In most US homes, over 40% of a household’s electricity bill is a result of air conditioning and heating, and in Santa Clarita, California and other arid climates it can be over 50%. The ideal daytime temperature comfort range for most Americans is between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  So setting your thermostat to the highest temperature in this range during the summer months is key to reducing energy costs.  Set your thermostat to 75 if you can handle it, or even higher if it is comfortable but don’t sacrifice your comfort.  At that point, why even bother having an air conditioner? At night, the ideal temperature range for Americans drops to 65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 87 degrees if you are my wife).  Don’t hesitate to lower your thermostat at night though, because your air conditioner actually works less at night than it does during the day due to lower outside temperatures and the fact that the sun is no longer hitting your house causing radiant heating.

As you can see, even though the hottest time of the day outside of your home is from 1-3PM, by the time this heat penetrates your home’s insulation it is actually between 3 and 7pm that your house experiences its peak energy usage. Here is a tip from the pros that you probably didn’t know: every degree in temperature that you raise your thermostat in the summer corresponds to around a 1% change in your electricity bill. The winter, as you might imagine, requires the opposite approach from the summer.  Energy usage is down in Southern California by about 30% during the winter months, but for those of you living in the Northeast you know that electricity prices go up.  The ideal temperature range for your heater during the winter is from 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but most people like it around 68.  In the winter, set your thermostat to the lowest temperature that you can comfortably stand, or set it even lower and just throw on a sweatshirt.  The nice thing about winter is that you can always throw on another layer.

I would recommend lowering your thermostat at night when you are sleeping and just pull up your down comforter.  Setting your thermostat to around 50-55 degrees for just 8 hours a day in the winter has been shown to reduce energy costs by as much as 15%, depending on your region. Remember the tip: for every degree you raise or lower the temperature on your thermostat, you are affecting your energy bill by about 1%. The short answer is yes, but be careful.  What many people don’t realize is that your HVAC system isn’t just raising or lowering the temperature of the air in your house, but it is also affecting the temperature of your insulation.  If you just turn your air conditioner or heater off every time you leave the house, then you can actually see an increase in your energy bill.  How is this possible?  Simply put, it takes hours for your HVAC unit to penetrate the walls of your house – that’s the whole point of insulation!  If you allow the outside temperature to infiltrate your insulation all day, then your air conditioner or heater will have to spend additional energy cooling or heating it back to your desired temperature.  

This can sometimes cost you more than if you had just set it a few degrees higher or lower before you left the house.  Here are a few tips to save money on energy: Or instead of dealing with the hassle, get more efficient equipment or a Smart Thermostat such as the Nest, Lyric or Ecobee.  Take a look below: SEER vs EER, and How to Use Them to Buy a New Air Conditioner. A programmable thermostat can be programmed to do all of the things listed above for you.  Imagine not having to worry about whether or not you forgot to turn down the thermostat before you went to work, or not having to get out of bed to turn the thermostat down because it already knows what time you go to bed?  It isn’t as expensive as you might think, and is usually priced around $200 for a decent one.  I’d recommend a programmable thermostat by Honeywell: If money isn’t as much of a concern to you, then I’d spend a little extra and splurge on a programmable thermostat that actually learns your habit patterns and desired temperature ranges.