It doesn’t have to be too hot in a bedroom to sleep well, but for the elderly, the ideal temperature could be higher than you think…
Needless to say, you know very well that the temperature of your room should not be too high to sleep well. It’s organic since body temperature naturally drops at night which helps to initiate and maintain sleep. Falling asleep is thus favored by fairly cool temperatures.. Generally, it is recommended not to exceed 18 or 19 degrees ideally in the bedroom to sleep well. But an American study pre-published in Science of The Total Environment demonstrates that, for old peopleit’s a little different. There ideal temperature of their bedroom would be a little higher.
11,000 nights reviewed
With age, sleep is naturally of lower quality. Older people wake up several times during the night, get up early, go back to bed… This disturbed sleep affects their cognitive (memory loss), physical functions, mood, irritability… But the sleep environment of the elderly person is too often overlooked. The observational study of American researchers proves it. They examined the association between room night temperature and the sleep quality of 50 elderly people, for 18 months. Using sensors of sleep, the researchers analyzed the duration of their sleep and their restlessness for 11,000 nights.
More restless sleep when it’s too hot
“Our results demonstrated that the sleep was more effective and more restorative when the nighttime ambient temperature was between 20 and 25°C (the peak being at 20 degrees)with a clinically significant reduction of 5 to 10% sleep efficiency when the temperature increased by 25°C to 30°C” commented lead author Amir Baniassadi of Harvard Medical School in Boston. Before emphasizing “substantial differences in optimum temperature between subjects“. Together with his team, he now plans to continue this line of work focusing on the potential impact of climate change on the sleep of the elderly. “Hotter nights can disrupt sleep, and climate change is causing warmer nights. Sleep disruptions and their subsequent health consequences could become a more widespread and persistent problem in the elderly.”