Can sleeping with the air conditioning on damage your health?
Can’t sleep without the air conditioning on? Here’s some advice on how to avoid unpleasant health issues when you wake up.
Can sleeping with the air conditioning on damage your health?
Air conditioning is now quite common in houses in Italy as it is a useful solution that improves living comfort and combats the heat of summer. One of the most common habits is sleeping with the air conditioning on and leaving it on at night to help you sleep. It is obviously very nice to keep the air cool at night, especially in summer when the temperature outside is particularly high even after sunset. Nevertheless, it is important to protect yourself against potential risks to your health and annoying problems when you wake up. Exposure to air conditioning in itself is not harmful but when you are sleeping, it becomes difficult to control the micro-climate in the room and extra precautions need to be taken.
Is it bad for you to sleep with the air conditioning on?
According to experts, sleeping with the air conditioning on is bad for you, not because it is harmful but because you can’t control the device while you’re asleep. When the air conditioning remains on at night, the temperature of the room could fall substantially below the recommended threshold. The Italian Ministry of Health recommends that for adequate physiological wellbeing, the indoor temperature should stay between 25 and 27°C, which is considered the optimal range for your health. A room temperature of under 25°C exposes the body to dangerous temperature changes, as your body temperature drops a lot at night and there is a risk that this will amplify if you sleep with the air conditioning on. The potential consequences are different for everyone and also depend on the duration of exposure to an environment that is too cold, on the indoor air quality and the temperature reached. The most common symptoms include muscle and joint pain, poor sleep, dehydration and in more severe cases even cramp. It is also important not to aim the air flow at your face but in another direction so it is not flowing directly at you. Germs, viruses and bacteria can hide in air conditioning filters, especially if proper maintenance is not performed on the system or if it is not fitted with good-quality filters. Nevertheless, you can use your air conditioning at night if you take some precautions, from controlling the system optimally in summer to setting the timer so that it turns off automatically.
The ideal temperature for sleeping with the air conditioning on
As we have seen, according to the experts, the room temperature should not fall below 25°C, so it is important to always use an advanced temperature control system to ensure that the room temperature does not drop below this value. If you have issues and ailments in the morning, like tiredness, headaches and a dry mouth, it is best to set the thermostat a bit higher, for example at a temperature of 26 or 27°C.
Should you sleep with air conditioning or a dehumidifier?
One of the effects of having the air conditioning on at night is the excessive dryness of the air, with more or less pronounced effects on the skin and respiratory tract due to dehydration. In this case, it is better to use a dehumidifier, or an air conditioning unit with a dehumidifying option, to maintain a suitable level of humidity in the room. If you don’t need to control the temperature of the room, a dehumidifier is a good option because it ensures optimal comfort in the room and saves energy consumption.
How to use the air conditioning properly at night
The air conditioning should always be switched off at night or programmed to switch off after one or two hours. That way, it helps you get to sleep without the risk of the room becoming too cold through the night. It is also important to clean the filters frequently, following the guidelines in the manual and based on the type of use, to prevent the accumulation of viruses and bacteria. A specialist technical support centre can sanitise them and perform all the necessary maintenance work for you.
Where possible, it is best to use a dehumidifier instead of an air conditioner, especially in areas where the humidity is still high throughout the night but the temperature is not too high. To make your home as comfortable as possible, it is important to buy a high-quality air conditioner with several speeds so that you can set it to a low intensity at night, or use other functions for the night, with high-efficiency filters and quiet operation so it does not disturb your sleep.
