There’s an invisible culprit inside our homes that affects us in more ways than we think. It is just as important and vital to the creation of a safe and healthy living environment. That culprit is temperature.
The effects of temperature on your everyday life are well-documented. Research has shown that temperature has a much larger impact on our health and general productivity than we realize.
If you are looking to ensure the best air quality for your family, you have to talk about temperature.
3 Ways Temperature Affects Us
Comfort
Quality of life improvements is all about making our everyday life more pleasurable. There is nothing more basic to comfortable living than your home’s temperature.
Temperature levels fluctuate due to the time of day and weather patterns. Make sure your rooms are in the optimal levels.
There’s one more important reason to keep the heat at the right levels. Higher temperatures accelerate the chemical reaction of compounds in the air – forming ozone and particulate matter.
What You Should Do:
Have a thermostat to control your home’s temperature. These are the optimal temperatures for certain rooms:
Living Room – 66 to 72 degrees F
Bathroom – 73 degrees F
Productivity
Anyone who has worked in an office knows fully-well the benefits of proper heating controls. If your office is too cold, your attention wanders as your body shivers and you try in vain to keep your chilled fingers warm. Cold fingers have trouble typing properly on keyboards, and can even involuntarily twitch and freeze if it gets too cold.
Cold office workers reported 44% more typing errors when the temperature was at 68 degrees compared to a warmer 77 degrees.
On the other hand, if it’s too warm, you will end up sweating a lot. This can cause a lot of discomforts. Higher temperature puts you at increased risk of overheating your body. Too much heat can addle your brain, making it harder to concentrate.
53% of office workers say that they are less productive when it’s cold, but 71% say they are less productive if it’s too warm.
What You Should Do:
Ideal office temperature is between 70 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have a home office, set your thermostat between these levels for a more productive workday.
Quality of Sleep
Sleep is the most affected activity when it comes to temperature. Studies show that 30% of Americans suffer from insomnia. One of the main drivers for not having a good night’s sleep is the ambient temperature in the bedroom.
Read: Does Indoor Air Quality Affect Sleep?
The reasoning is simple: when you go to sleep, your brain is actually trying to settle into an ideal temperature for your body. This is an internal thermostat that your body is trying to maintain for optimal rest.
Cooler temperatures are generally better for drifting off to sleep. If it gets too cold you are liable to end up waking up, or at the very least the quality of your deep REM sleep will be affected.
What You Should Do:
Keep the bedroom temperature anywhere between 65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Other studies mention drilling down further and naming 68 degrees the optimal number.
What can you do about Temperature?
There are many things you can to control the temperature in your home, and they don’t end with the dial on your thermostat.
Ventilation and Airflow
It’s important that your home’s air ducts are the correct size, otherwise you can have improper airflow. This can cause damage to your thermostat and heating systems in the long run. It’s important to have a certified professional examine your ductwork to ensure its adequacy for your home.
Insulation
Leaky ducts with poor insulation can also increase put the work your cooling and heating systems and impede airflow. Proper insulation is also crucial and can save energy by keeping outside conditions from affecting your home’s temperature.
Humidity
The humidity levels also directly influence the temperature. If it’s too humid, better air circulation usually does the trick of getting all that humid air out of the house and will help your heating system maintain the ideal temperatures.
Home Air Quality is not just about Temperature
Home air quality is a complex interaction between several factors, and the temperature is just one of the factors to look at.
Having an air quality sensor that can monitor all these factors can help you know what’s in your air. You can adjust them as necessary to compensate for problems in other areas. With a little tinkering and some good effort, you can maintain a comfortable and pleasurable home environment for your family.
