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What's your ideal sleep temperature?

Answer six quick questions and get your ideal sleep temperature for the bedroom, with the research behind each adjustment and a result you can share.

  1. 01How old are you?
  2. 02At night, you usually run…
  3. 03What's on the bed?
  4. 04Do you share the bed (people or pets)?
  5. 05Hot flashes or night sweats?
  6. 06Does the bedroom feel muggy?
0 of 6 answered

The short answer

Sleep clinicians commonly suggest a bedroom around 60 to 67°F (16 to 19°C), and this calculator starts in the middle at 65°F (18°C). Your age, your bedding, a bed partner, hot flashes and humidity then move it up or down. Heat and cold both make you wake more and cut into deep and REM sleep, and under real bedding, heat causes more of the trouble (Okamoto-Mizuno 2012). Use your number as a starting point and adjust a degree at a time.

How it works

Each answer shifts the 65°F start by one to three degrees. Older adults in a home study slept most efficiently between 68 and 77°F (20 to 25°C), so the calculator starts them 3°F warmer (Baniassadi 2023). Heavy bedding, a bed partner, hot flashes and a muggy room each pull the number down, because they add heat your body has to shed at night (Okamoto-Mizuno 2012; NIA).

The same study of older adults found large differences between people, so treat the result as your first test setting (Baniassadi 2023). Try it for a few nights, then move it one degree if you wake hot or cold.

Common questions

What is the ideal sleep temperature?

Sleep clinicians commonly suggest 60 to 67°F (16 to 19°C) for adults. Older adults in one home study slept most efficiently at 68 to 77°F (20 to 25°C), and people vary a lot, so test a setting for a few nights and adjust.

Is it better to sleep hot or cold?

Too much of either disturbs sleep. With normal bedding and pajamas, heat tends to cause more waking and less deep and REM sleep than cold does, and humid heat makes it worse (Okamoto-Mizuno 2012).

What bedroom temperature helps with night sweats?

The National Institute on Aging suggests lowering the bedroom temperature, layering bedding so you can adjust it, using a fan and sipping a little cold water before bed. If night sweats keep waking you, talk with your doctor.

This tool shares general information and does not give medical advice. It cannot diagnose or treat any condition. For symptoms that worry you, see a clinician. In an emergency, call 911.

Sources

  1. Okamoto-Mizuno K, Mizuno K. Effects of thermal environment on sleep and circadian rhythm. Journal of Physiological Anthropology. 2012;31(1):14.
  2. Baniassadi A, Manor B, Yu W, Travison T, Lipsitz L. Nighttime ambient temperature and sleep in community-dwelling older adults. Science of the Total Environment. 2023;899:165623.
  3. National Institute on Aging. Hot Flashes: What Can I Do? National Institutes of Health.