Sleeping with a fan on: slow to medium speed advised for a comfortable night
Fan speed at night should suit the room and the body, with slow or medium settings enough for most people, the advice says.
In summer it is hard to sleep without a fan. Sweat makes the skin sticky and people keep turning over in bed, which is why most people sleep with the fan on. Some run it at full speed, while others want a gentle breeze.
The advice is to keep the fan at slow to medium speed while sleeping, depending on the comfort of the room and the body. There is no single answer. It depends on how warm the room is, how humid the air is and how much heat a person can tolerate.
The speed should be such that the body feels pleasantly cool but not cold. Many people run the fan at full speed and wake up in the middle of the night feeling cold. If the room is already cool or air is coming in through a window, there is no need to run the fan fast. A slow or medium speed is enough. After 1 or 2 am the temperature outside falls on its own, so it is fine to lower the speed a little while sleeping. This helps sleep and also saves electricity.
Letting the fan's air fall directly on the body or face is also said to be wrong. Air hitting one spot continuously can cause colds, a sore neck and a dry throat. The fan should be placed so that the air circulates around the whole room. A ceiling fan spreads air in all directions, so it poses no problem. A table fan or stand fan should be kept oscillating rather than fixed in one place, so that the air does not hit one spot and keeps moving through the room.
Sometimes the room becomes very hot and humid. In that case a slow fan brings no relief and a medium to high speed is needed. It is worth remembering that a fan does not cool the air in the room. It does not work like an AC. It only dries sweat on the body faster, and that is what produces the cooling feeling. So if the room is very hot, keep the windows open along with the fan so that outside air comes in.
People are also advised to watch whether their sleep is disturbed. If after sleeping with the fan on you wake up with a dry nose, a sore throat or keep waking during the night, the speed is probably too high. Every body is different. Some people feel the cold more, others feel the heat more. So do not set the speed by looking at others; keep whichever speed is comfortable.
The best method, it is said, is to keep the fan at medium speed and cover the body with a thin sheet. Pull the sheet over if you feel cold and push it off if you feel hot. This will give calmer sleep and help avoid falling ill.
