Can anyone give advice on temperature or temperature range for a 96 year old man for sleeping. Currently house temperature is set for 23c 6 til 11 and 21C through the night from 11 til 6. He complains that he is cold and that he will get hypnothermia or pneumonia. I find the heat intolerable when he turns it up to 25c. My concern about turning the heating higher at night is that he will sleep less and spend too much time “thinking…”
Any thoughts appreciated.
Hi Gary,
I found this info on the internet: Best Temperature for Sleep - 2022 Update I Sleep Advisor
The elderly who don’t move around much, feel the cold a lot more than those of us who are more active. Is he cold when he gets into bed?
I suppose its a case of working out whether he is really feeling cold or whether he has got 25 degrees fixed in his mind as the ideal temperature for sleeping. Personally I couldn’t sleep at that temperature. Perhaps as the weather has been so hot, the heating wont come on at a lower setting and he believes it should come on regardless of the heatwave.
How about an all night electric blanket for his bed instead? Or additional covers at the end of his bed that he can pull up.
Melly1
Hi Melly,
Well, he has it in his head that if the radiator is not belting out heat… Then it is cold. Can’t seem to comprehend the idea of a thermostat. That temperature suggestion you pointed to me seems reasonable. He won’t use electric blanket for concerns of possible incontinence and doesn’t like weight of blankets. My only concern of not turning heat up to 23c is increased risk of not sleeping and thinking and thinking and thinking…
Hi, maybe buy a large electronic thermometer, so he can see the temperature and not worry about it? They are less than a tenner.
When he realises how warm it is, maybe he will accept it and stop worrying…
I was disabled for a few years after a car accident. (Two knee replacements made me OK again). I was used to being very active and generating my own heat as a result. However, after the accident I needed the house far warmer. A simple compromise for you is NOT to raise the temperature of the whole house, but to get him a thermostatic heater for his bedroom, so he can be warm without wasting a fortune on heat in the other rooms.