The ideal temperature for sleep
A bedroom that's too warm is one of the most common reasons for restless nights. The good news: it's also one of the easiest to fix.
Why your body needs to cool down to fall asleep
To drift off, your body has to lower its core temperature. That drop is part of the signal that brings on sleep, and it carries on through the night before rising again in the early morning.
Your body sheds that heat through the skin, especially through your hands and feet. If the bedroom is too warm, or your duvet holds in too much heat, it can't do this properly: you take longer to fall asleep, you wake up more often and your deep sleep is shorter.
16 to 18 °C: the right bedroom temperature
A bedroom is usually best kept a little cooler than your living room. In practice, most people sleep well with the bedroom at 16 to 18 °C and a suitable duvet. If your thermostat or radiator valves let you set rooms separately, the bedroom is the one to turn down.
| Bedroom temperature | What happens |
|---|---|
| Below 15 °C | You curl up and your muscles stay tense. You'll need a warmer duvet. |
| 16 to 18 °C | The sweet spot: your body can shed heat without feeling cold. |
| 19 to 21 °C | Fine with a lighter duvet. Any warmer and you tend to wake more in the night. |
| Above 22 °C | Broken sleep, sweating, the duvet kicked off in the middle of the night. |
Humidity matters too: aim for 40 to 60%
Air that's too dry feels uncomfortable to breathe; air that's too damp feels heavy and encourages condensation and mould. Between 40 and 60% humidity, the room feels fresher and your bedding stays fresh too.
- Open the bedroom window for 5 to 10 minutes every morning, even in winter.
- Don't dry laundry in the bedroom.
- An inexpensive hygrometer will tell you exactly where you stand.
Choosing a duvet that suits your bedroom
The warmth of a synthetic duvet depends on its fill weight, measured in grams of filling per square metre. The higher the number, the warmer the duvet.
| Fill weight | Type | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Under 250 g/m² | Light | Summer, warm bedrooms, people who always run hot |
| 250 to 350 g/m² | Medium | A normally heated bedroom, all year round |
| Over 350 g/m² | Warm | Cool bedrooms, people who feel the cold, homes with little heating |
Our 2-in-1 duvet is a medium, all-season duvet (300 g/m² filling), made for a normally heated bedroom. If you feel the cold or your bedroom is chilly, simply add a throw or a thin duvet on top in the depths of winter.
5 ways to sleep cooler
- Turn the bedroom heating down an hour before bed, or set a timer on the thermostat.
- Have a warm shower or bath 1 to 2 hours before bed. It sounds backwards, but once you're out, your body cools down faster, which helps you drift off.
- Keep your feet warm. Cold feet slow down heat loss, so thin socks can help if you feel the cold.
- Choose breathable fabrics: cotton, linen, percale. Avoid 100% synthetic sheets and pyjamas if you get hot at night.
- Air the room in the morning, not the evening, in winter: it gives the bedroom time to settle back to a steady temperature before bedtime.
A medium-warmth duvet, no cover to wrestle with
All-season, reversible and machine washable. Try it for 60 nights.
Discover the 2-in-1 duvet →