Alon Avidan, MD, MPH: What’s the Best Temperature for Sleep?

"Tonight, before you head to bed, check your thermostat. Set it somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

People sleep better in that temperature range. “Not only in terms of maintaining sleep, but also of falling asleep,” says Alon Avidan, MD, MPH, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center. That also goes for how long you sleep and how well.

The exact number is hard to pinpoint. It varies from person to person. But a 5-degree range is easy enough to experiment with.

“You want to make sure your sleep temperature is correct,” says Alberto Rafael Ramos, MD. He's the research director of the sleep disorders program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Once you’ve done that, you need to check a couple of other things in your bedroom to get the temperature just right.

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If you sleep hot, you’re likely to remain in the lighter stages of sleep rather than reach a deeper, more restorative and restful stage, such as what’s called slow-wave sleep, Ramos says. In those light stages, it’s easier for you to wake up.

How hot is too hot? “If someone told me that they slept in a temperature between 70 to 75, I’d say that’s a range that promotes insomnia,” Avidan says. “That’s toasty.”

If you’re used to keeping your bedroom so warm, “Lower the temperature 2 to 3 degrees at a time,” Ramos says. If you get too cold, you can always move it back up a bit. By making little changes up and down with the temperature, most people can find their comfort zone."

Read more at WebMD.