No, 20°C (68°F) is generally not too cold for a healthy house, falling within recommended ranges for comfortable and energy-efficient living, but it can be too cool for vulnerable individuals like the elderly, infants, or sick people, who often need 20°C or warmer to prevent health risks like cardiovascular issues or respiratory problems. For most healthy adults, 18°C to 20°C is a good range for daytime, with 18°C being a minimum safe level, while warmer temperatures (20-22°C) are suggested when people are home and active, and cooler (17-19°C) for sleeping or away.
You should set a comfortable temperature for your home. A temperature between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius is usually comfortable. If you have a health condition that might be made worse by the cold, ask your GP or a healthcare professional what temperature you should keep your home at.
What Temperature is Too Cold for a House? While everyone has a different tolerance to cold, ideal winter heat settings should generally be at or above 63 °F (17 °C). Excessive cold (anything below 62 °F or 16 °C) in your home can actually raise your blood pressure as your blood “thickens” in the chilly temperatures.
Poor Insulation
One of the primary reasons your house may feel cold in winter is poor insulation. Insulation is essential for maintaining a stable temperature indoors, and without it, heat escapes through your walls, roof, windows, and floors.
What is the ideal sleeping temperature? The best temperature for sleeping is between 18–20 degrees Celsius. Your body temperature starts to fall as bedtime approaches, preparing you for this. So don't be fooled – we're designed to have a cooler body temperature during sleep than we are through the daytime.
Freezing or frost occurs when the air temperature falls below the freezing point of water (0 °C, 32 °F, 273 K).
Cold Walls, Floors, and Corners
If you keep asking yourself why is my house so cold even though the heat is on, the answer might be hiding in your walls, floors, or attic—not your furnace. When walls or ceilings feel cold to the touch, it's a classic sign of conductive heat loss.
Cold homes contribute to excess winter mortality and morbidity. Most of the health burden can be attributed to both respiratory and cardiovascular disease, especially for older people.
How to tell if your house is poorly insulated
If a room is too cold, it can lead to dampness and condensation. Together, these can cause mould to grow, which can worsen respiratory conditions like asthma. If you're struggling to afford your heating, the British Gas Energy Trust can help with grants as well as advice to help save money and energy.
At a glance. Set your heating to come on half an hour before you wake up and go off half an hour before you go to bed. Set your thermostat between 18–21 °C to balance comfort and savings. Heat pumps work best when left running all day.
The ideal temperature would be around 55 to 60 degrees. This will be warm enough to keep pipes from freezing.
When preparing your home for winter if you plan to be away, the best thermostat settings are between 55 and 60°F. If your winters are mild and freezing pipes are not as much of a concern, you can go lower to 45°F to potentially save money.
Vitamin B12 helps the body make red blood cells, nerves and DNA, and do other healthy functions. Feeling cold all the time could be a symptom of vitamin B12 deficiency. Most people need 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12 a day. You'll need more if you're pregnant (2.6 micrograms) or breastfeeding (2.8 micrograms).
Abstract. Background: Cold ambient temperatures are known to increase blood pressure (BP), but the influence of room temperature remains understudied.
Cold homes are not good for your health. Problems and diseases linked to cold homes range from high blood pressure and common colds, to heart attacks and pneumonia. Besides poor health, cold-related illnesses cause absence from work, social isolation, and sleep deprivation.
Living in a cold home can worsen asthma and other respiratory illnesses and increase the risk of heart disease and cardiac events. It can also worsen musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis.
Field tests of residential water systems subjected to winter temperatures demonstrated that, for uninsulated pipes installed in an unconditioned attic, the onset of freezing occurred when the outside temperature fell to 20 degrees Fahrenheit or below.
It's advisable to keep your home below 80 degrees throughout the summer. A house that's too warm can be dangerous to people, pets, and the soft surfaces in your home. Set the winter temperature to 68 degrees when you're awake and 62 degrees when you're sleeping.
Yes, water pipes can freeze in a slab foundation, particularly during unexpected cold weather. Slab foundations house many of your home's essential pipes. When temperatures drop, those pipes are at risk of freezing. Frozen pipes can lead to serious issues, including bursts and leaks.
Floating objects reduce the exposed surface area of water, which can slow down freezing and keep tiny openings accessible for longer. For a thrush or robin on a frost-bitten morning, that's everything. The fuzzy, slightly rough surface of a tennis ball offers grip where plastic or glazed pottery does not.
45°F to 32°F – Caution zone for smaller dogs or those with short coats. Keep outings shorter and consider a jacket. 32°F to 20°F – Risk of cold-related discomfort and hypothermia increases, especially for small, senior, or thin-coated dogs. Below 20°F – Potentially dangerous for most dogs.