Window open or closed?

L

LyricDreamer95 ! :D

New member
Hello,

During my entire childhood my parents insisted I sleep with a slightly opened window and a turned off heater, no matter the outside air temperature that night.
Whether it was +10 or -10 degrees celcius in the winter, my window was open and my heater turned off.
I personally have not had any big problems with colds and/or allergies, but I don't like to go on my own experience as each person's experience is different.

Now I'm married and my wife insists that at night the window is shut and the heater turned on, not only in our bedroom but also in our children's bedrooms.
My daughters always seem to have trouble with coughing throughout the night and I need to clean the windows regularly to keep mold from reappearing.
Also during the day my children seem to be picking up a cold easier.
So my question is this:

Is it healthier to sleep with the windows open (heater off) or with the windows closed? (heater on).
I realize a lot of people have their own opinions on this question and I found a lot of those all over the internet.
 
As a child I also slept in a bedroom with no heat and the window cracked open. Our only heat was from a fireplace and later a kerosene heater.

Today I sleep with the home heating system on at a lower temperature than day and definitely have a window cracked in the bedroom near my bed.

When our children were little the house was kept at a warmer setting because they kicked the cover off. All bedrooms had a cracked window.

When using gas to heat the home there is a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, therefore, you need fresh air in the room. An electric heater does not emit carbon monoxide, however, an electric heater can turn over or accidentally be knocked over and cause a fire.

If you have gas pipes coming into your home for cooking, bathroom heaters or home heating, there should always be a cracked window day and night for safety. Sometimes we do not go in and out of the doors frequently enough to allow enough fresh air to come in during the day. At night the doors are shut and no fresh air coming in.

If you are using individual gas heaters in bedrooms, it is best to turn them off and crack a window for fresh air, the hearter is not vented outside. A 1" crack in widow not too far from the bed is enough to make a difference in life or death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

My husband's cousin lost his wife and two babies to carbon monoxide poisoning and almost lost his life too due to a faulty heating system while they were sleeping. It was very sad to go to the funeral of his family, he was unable to attend the funeral, he was fighting for his life. His precious little ones lived for a while in an oxygen tent then died about 2 days later. I saw the few months old baby a few hours before she died.

It is not a matter of who is right or wrong, it is a matter of choosing the most healthy way to prevent early death of our precious little ones. We can always add more cover to stay warm at night.

Be sure and have home heating systems checked every winter to make sure they are safe. Many times in older units there are little holes in some areas that allow carbon monoxide to escape into the house instead of all being vented outside.

Even if your whole house heating system is new and working just fine, be sure and have carbon monoxide detectors in every room. Especially if you are using indiviual heaters be sure and have carbon monoxide dectors in every room.

Don't forget to install fire alarms near the bedrooms and other areas.

It is best to be safe than sorry.
 
It is always better to sleep with the windows open no matter what the temp and the heat off. However, I guess it depends on where you live to be able to leave a window open not so safe these days. My daughter/husband/kids travel a lot as a military family and she has lived in not so safe places so instead of leaving the window open all night she opens them up in the day time for a couple hours to air the rooms out...that is better than nothing. I also grew up with windows open but husband won't allow it so I air out the rooms during the day.
 
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