Best Bedroom Temperature for Sleep in Australian Homes

The best bedroom temperature for sleep is cooler than most people keep their house, and in Australia the hard part is holding it there: a January night in Brisbane and a July night in Hobart need opposite strategies. This guide covers the Sleep Health Foundation's recommended range, how to get close to it in summer and winter, and the safety rules for fans, heaters and electric blankets.

The short answer: the Sleep Health Foundation puts the ideal sleeping temperature at around 17 to 19°C, and Better Health Channel gives the same range. Cooler is fine with enough bedding; warmer is where sleep breaks up. In summer, use airflow over your skin, cotton sheets, a cool shower and a light doona on standby. In winter, warm the room and the bed before you get in, then switch heaters and electric blankets off. Fire services say heaters should be off while you sleep, and never use an unflued gas heater in a bedroom.

The recommended range and why it matters

The Sleep Health Foundation's hot-nights advice states that "the ideal sleeping temperature is around 17 to 19 degrees Celsius" (source). Better Health Channel's sleep hygiene page gives the same 17 to 19°C range (source).

Why cool rather than cosy? The Foundation notes that the temperature of your hands and feet is particularly important for sleeping, and that air flowing over your skin helps cool your body. A warm room works against that. Being too hot is also one of the easier causes of waking in the small hours to fix; see why do I wake up at 3am?

The figure is for the room, not the bed. A cool room and warm bedding let your body regulate itself through the night.

Summer: getting the room down

Fix	What it does	Notes
Fan on you, not the room	Air over skin cools you even when the air is warm	The Sleep Health Foundation's first tip: ceiling or portable fan, windows open if you can
Cotton sheets and sleepwear	Breathes	The Foundation says cotton is the best fabric for pyjamas and sheets; avoid synthetics
Cool shower before bed	Lowers skin temperature	Repeat if you wake hot in the night
Cool hands, feet and face	Targets the areas that matter most	A cold washer, or cold water on wrists and feet
Shut the house by day	Keeps heat out	Blinds closed on the sunny side; open up once outside is cooler than inside
Air conditioning on a timer	Pre-cools the room	Cool the room before bed, then let the fan take over
Light cover within reach	You often cool down later in the night	The Foundation suggests having a lightweight doona or blanket ready

Drink water through the day and keep a bottle by the bed. For the heatwave version, see hot weather sleep tips for Australia.

Winter: staying warm without a heater running overnight

The instinct is to leave the heater on. Fire services say don't. The CFA's advice is to turn heaters off before going to bed and reach for an extra blanket instead, noting that many serious house fires start in sleeping areas and involve heating (source).

1. Warm the room before bed, not during sleep. Run the heater in the evening with the door closed, then switch it off as you get in. A room at 17°C with good bedding is comfortable; a room at 24°C with a heater running is a fire risk and too warm to sleep well anyway.
2. Layer the bed. Sheet, blanket, doona. You can shed a layer at 3am without getting cold.
3. Warm the bed, then turn it off. The CFA's advice on electric blankets is to switch them on half an hour before bed and off as you get in (source). A hot water bottle works the same way: healthdirect advises warm, not boiling, water, checking for leaks, and wrapping it before it touches skin.
4. Socks and a warm shower. Warm feet matter for falling asleep.
5. Stop the draughts. Door snakes, closed curtains and a rug on floorboards hold the heat in.
6. Crack a window or leave the door ajar. A sealed room gets stuffy by morning.

If you share a bed with someone who runs hotter or colder, separate doonas solve most of it. If cold mornings are the real problem, see how to wake up early in winter.

Heater, fan and electric blanket safety

The rules from Australian fire services and healthdirect are consistent (source):

• One metre clearance. Keep bedding, curtains, clothes and anything flammable at least one metre from any heater.
• Off before you sleep. Heaters and electric blankets off when you get into bed. Don't leave a portable heater running in an empty room.
• Never an unflued gas heater in a bedroom. healthdirect's wording is that harmful toxic gases can build up in a bedroom, bathroom or other small room with no permanent ventilation. Have gas heaters serviced every two years by a licensed gas fitter.
• Check electric heaters each winter for damaged cords, plugs and reflectors, and have repairs done by a technician.
• Check the electric blanket every year. Look for damaged wires, leads and hot spots, replace it if anything is wrong, store it rolled rather than folded, and check it hasn't been recalled.
• Test your smoke alarms at the start of winter. A vibrating alarm clock is not a safety device.

When to see your GP

If you're regularly too hot at night even in a cool room, with sweating that soaks the sheets, see your GP. Night sweats have a range of causes worth checking; if you're going through menopause, see menopause and sleep. Also see your GP if you snore heavily or wake gasping, covered in signs of sleep apnoea. This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Where the Sovune Nudge fits

We make the Sovune Nudge, a silent alarm wristband, so we're not neutral. It suits a cool, dark, quiet bedroom better than most alarms.

• No light in the room. No speaker, no sound, and the small display only lights when you press the button.
• No app, no phone, no Bluetooth. Set on the band itself, so the phone can charge somewhere else.
• Wakes you with vibration on your wrist, starting as a gentle tap and building through three intensity levels, so a partner under their own doona isn't woken by your alarm.
• Water-resistant for everyday use, so a cool shower before bed or a sweaty summer night is fine. Not for swimming or diving.

It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Quick answers

What temperature should a bedroom be for sleep? The Sleep Health Foundation and Better Health Channel both say around 17 to 19°C, with bedding to adjust from there.

Is it better to sleep in a cold room? Cooler is generally better than warmer, as long as you have enough bedding.

Can I leave a heater on overnight in the bedroom? Fire services say no. Warm the room before bed, turn the heater off, and add bedding. Never use an unflued gas heater in a bedroom.

Is it safe to sleep with an electric blanket on? The CFA's advice is to turn it on half an hour before bed and off as you get in.

For every type of silent alarm compared, see our complete guide to vibrating alarms in Australia.

See the Sovune Nudge →