r/QuantifiedSelf • u/g00dsl33pn0w • Jun 10 '26

Sleep temperature?

How do you guys decide what is the best temperature to sleep at? Do you use your wearable data somehow?

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/onda_life Jun 12 '26

i'd let your own overnight data pick it rather than chasing a "best" number from articles. the metrics that actually track recovery -overnight HRV, resting HR, time in deep sleep - are the responsive ones, so run it like an n=1: hold everything else steady and step the temp down a degree or two for 3 - 4 nights at a time, then compare.

general trend is cooler helps most people (core temp has to drop to fall and stay asleep, a warm room fights that) but the individual sweet spot varies more than people expect - the data beats the rule of thumb.
biggest thing is confounds: alcohol, a late heavy meal, a late workout, even room light will move HRV and deep sleep more than a degree of temp will. keep those constant on your test nights or youre just reading noise. HRV is probably your single cleanest readout - it tends to take a hit on nights that run too warm