Temperature — both body and room temperature — plays a huge role in your sleep. If your room is too hot, it can disrupt sleep. If it’s too cold, it may interfere with your ability to relax.
Key takeaways:
- Temperature is an important factor in determining how well you sleep.
- Most people sleep best when their room is between 60°F and 67°F.
- If your bedroom is too hot, it can disrupt your sleep and cause you to wake up more often in the middle of the night.
One-third of adults experience regular sleep disturbances, like trouble falling or staying asleep. So anything you can do –– like setting your thermostat to an ideal temperature –– to support restful sleep is important.
But what is the best temperature for sleep, exactly? Most experts agree that your room should be between 60°F and 67°F, but there’s more to consider.
How does temperature affect sleep?
Your body temperature is tied to your circadian rhythm, a 24-hour biological clock that controls when you wake up and fall asleep (among other things). Body temperature goes up and down throughout the day. But it’s highest in the late afternoon and then drops as your body gets ready to sleep.
This drop in temperature signals to your body that it’s time to go to bed. In an ideal situation, your body temperature stays low throughout the night and then rises again shortly before you wake up.
This temperature fluctuation, or thermoregulation, is crucial to getting a good night’s sleep.
“Even slight changes in body temperature can send powerful signals to our body’s internal clock,” says Kent Smith, MD, DDS, D-ABDSM, past president of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy, diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, and founding director and chief medical officer of Sleep Dallas.
In other words, if anything works against this natural drop in core body temperature, it can make falling or staying asleep more difficult. Your thermal environment — or the temperature around you — is also an important factor in determining how well you’ll sleep.
How does poor sleep quality affect your health?
According to Smith, even short-term sleep disruption can make you feel more irritable and stressed and decrease your productivity and ability to make sound decisions. This can affect your work quality and ability to function at your best.
Long-term sleep deprivation can increase your risk of various health issues, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. It also may negatively impact your immune system.
What is the ideal temperature for sleep?
While everyone is a bit different, there is an ideal temperature range for getting your best sleep.
“Most people sleep best when their bedroom temperature is between 60°F and 67°F (15.6°C to 19.4°C),” says Smith. “In fact, one of the most common reasons people wake up in the middle of the night is because their bedroom is too warm or they are using too heavy of a blanket.”
If your room is too cold or too hot, it can negatively affect your sleep quality by interfering with your natural sleep cycles.
What can happen if your bedroom is too hot?
As Smith mentioned, when your bedroom is too hot, you might wake up more often throughout the night. Even if you don’t wake up, it can interfere with your body’s ability to thermoregulate — or control your internal core temperature. This can decrease both rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep and slow-wave sleep.
REM sleep is connected to learning new information, brain development, and better mental health. If you don’t get enough of it, you may have trouble managing your mood and find it more difficult to remember certain skills.
Slow-wave sleep is the deep sleep stage. It plays roles in memory and immune function. You need ample slow-wave sleep to feel rested when you wake up.
Why are cooler temperatures better for sleep?
On the flip side, cooler room temperatures make it easier for your body to lower its core internal temperature, which is a signal for good, restful sleep.
But you don’t want your room to be too cold. While cold temperatures don’t affect your sleep cycles, studies suggest that the cold may affect your heart’s autonomic response during sleep.
However, it’s worth noting that many of these older studies were done in abnormal conditions (without pajamas or bedding). In real-life circumstances, you’d likely have clothes and bedding to provide insulation and protect you from cooler air.
What are the best ways to regulate your temperature while sleeping?
So, how can you ensure that you’re sleeping at the ideal temperature? Unfortunately, you can’t fully control your body’s core temperature, but there are some things you can do to set yourself up for sleep success:
- Set your thermostat, if possible. If you can change the temperature in your room, set your thermostat to 60°F to 67°F. If you can’t set the thermostat, open windows, and use fans on hot days. In colder months, wear warmer pajamas and use heavier blankets.
- Avoid vigorous exercise or other strenuous activities within 3 hours of bedtime. This activity might raise your body temperature, making it harder to fall asleep.
- Avoid spicy foods and large meals before bedtime. These may increase heartburn, which affects sleep quality.
- Take a warm bath or shower. It may seem counterintuitive, but there’s some evidence that a short, warm bath or shower 1 or 2 hours before bedtime may help you fall asleep faster.
- Avoid screens — including your phone, TV, and computer — as much as possible at night. Exposure to blue light might hinder that natural drop in body temperature and suppress melatonin. Instead, listen to soothing music or read a book.
- Use breathable sheets and pajamas. Smith recommends cotton or bamboo.
The bottom line
The temperature has an impact on your sleep. If your room is too hot or cold, it can affect your sleep quality and leave you tossing and turning all night. The best temperature for sleep falls somewhere between 60°F to 67°F.
By Lindsay Boyers, CHNC, a functional nutritionist, licensed esthetician, writer, and editor with over a decade of experience in evidence-based health, wellness, and skincare writing.
