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Cooler bedroom temperatures help the heart recover during sleep:
Maintaining a bedroom temperature of 24°C [75°F] at night while sleeping reduces stress responses in older adults, according to new Griffith University research.
Dr Fergus O'Connor from Griffith's School of Allied Health, Sport and Social Work assessed the effect of increasing nighttime bedroom temperatures on heart rate and stress responses in older adults.
"For individuals aged 65 years and over, maintaining overnight bedroom temperatures at 24°C reduced the likelihood of experiencing heightened stress responses during sleep," Dr O'Connor said.
"When the human body is exposed to heat, its normal physiological response is to increase the heart rate.
"The heart is working harder to try and circulate blood to the skin surface for cooling.
"However, when the heart works harder and for longer, it creates stress and limits our capacity to recover from the previous day's heat exposure."
Study participants wore fitness activity trackers on their non-dominant wrist, and the bedroom temperature was monitored via installed temperature sensors throughout the Australian summer-long data collection period.
The data from the study provided the first real-world evidence of the effect of increasing bedroom temperature had on heart rate and stress responses.
"Climate change is increasing the frequency of hot nights, which may independently contribute to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by impairing sleep and autonomic recovery," Dr O'Connor said.
"While there are guidelines for maximum daytime indoor temperature, 26°C, there are no equivalent recommendations for nighttime conditions."
Journal Reference: O'Connor, F.K., Bach, A.J.E., Forbes, C. et al. Effect of nighttime bedroom temperature on heart rate variability in older adults: an observational study. BMC Med 23, 703 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-04513-0
(Score: 3, Insightful) by gnuman on Thursday February 05, @11:37AM (1 child)
So, it seems it's cold outside for most people here and we all forgot what warm is. But, if you clicked on the actual article ..
And then they talk about how they looked at people living in retirement homes in Australia.
They are not talking about perfect temperatures or ideal temperatures or what you prefer. They are simply trying to measure at what temperature heat stress is less of a factor for a given population. Yes, this probably doesn't apply to people living in tropical countries all their life. But it's another data point and probably important when it comes to cooling centers during heat waves. You know, in the summer time, when it's warm again.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Reziac on Thursday February 05, @11:49AM
Well, if they were worrying about cooling things down in cold weather, I'd be concerned....
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542519625000543 [sciencedirect.com]
"In Barcelona, the optimal temperature was 23·6°C with the risk increasing steadily for mildly cold days and sharply for hot days. Over 19 years, these risk curves translate to 10772 cardiovascular excess deaths linked to cold and 556 to heat."
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.