BBC News stated that 23,000 elderly died in winter in 2006 in the UK as a result of being too cold. Although growing environmental awareness and a growing price sensitivity triggered by the financial crisis, motivating people to lower the thermostat is not recommended.
It has been found that against beliefs, the room temperature is vital for the quality of sleep and a person’s overall health status. As good sleep is important for one’s mental and physical health, and cold indoor and outdoor temperatures endanger everyone’s’ health, Jacqueline Rose from weboil.co.uk has some advice on how to deal with such situations.
Obviously, as other even colder places such as Siberia do not record such high winter death rates as the UK, British may underestimate the dangers of the cold. In fact, many people in Britain simply do not keep warm enough, which causes deadly strokes, heart attacks or respiratory infections.
As Britain tends to have a mild climate, citizens are simply not prepared for few cold weeks in winter. Unfortunately, most British households are living in poor insulated homes and the majority simply aren’t equipped with the right outdoor clothing or are underdressed.
Moreover, many of them even share the wrong belief that cold air is good for their health. As a result, lower body temperature causes clotted blood and makes people susceptible to flu which quickly can lead to pneumonia.
Also an adequate indoor temperature is necessary to maintain good health. Cold rooms under 16°C decreases the resident’s resistance to respiratory diseases and increases their blood pressure, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke.
According to the World Health Organisation, the ideal room temperature ranges between 21°C – 24°C, whereas 18°C is the ideal bedroom temperature. Other sources state that some may have even better sleep at lower temperatures at around 15°C. However, healthy people shouldn’t have any problem in rooms heated to 18°C. Everyone who is exposed to a temperature under 5°C risks hypothermia.