Sleeping in Ice-Cold Temperatures
Fall is a weird time of year for temperatures in the Midwest.
Last week I found some rather large bugs around my bedroom window. Still not exactly sure what they were, but they reminded me of the boxelders that used to plague the farmhouse I grew up in. Wisconsin summers would yield a disgusting number of boxelders and no amount of vacuuming from my mom could keep them at bay.
Needless, to say, I was disturbed by the two bugs I found. The next day, there were two more. The day after that, six more — and one of them flew at me. I began to wonder what portal of hell I had accidentally opened.
Turns out it wasn’t hell: but the window to the bedroom was slightly opened, enough for the bugs to make their way inside. This is the result of a window air conditioning unit we added about a month ago so that I could force the bedroom to be colder than the rest of the house.
I’ve always heard that sleeping in a cold room is better. It has to do with the body’s internal temperature and circadian rhythm, with an optimal temperature being between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
I never bought it. I grew up in a house without any air conditioning, so I was used to being hot at night. The house also used woodstoves in the winter, plus my bedroom had a…
