A recent study: sleeping with an open window helps reduce the risk of Coronavirus infection

Until recently, sleeping with the window open or closed was optional, but the results of a new study reveal that this option has a significant impact on health in light of the Corona virus.

Based on the new study, experts urge the need to ventilate homes and workplaces and recommend keeping windows open during sleep, especially if you share your living space with others or receive care at home, to reduce the risk of “Covid-19” infection. Russia Today, according to the Daily Mail.

The idea is that keeping the windows open allows fresh air to replace the air that regularly carries the virus.

Professor Linda Bold, a public health expert at the University of Edinburgh, says changing the air in the room by keeping the window open day and night can make a “significant” difference to the risk of “Covid-19” infection. and this advice should be encouraged just like Hand washing and keep a safe distance from others.

“The public health message about good ventilation will become more important as evidence grows that Covid-19 can spread through airborne transmission over larger areas,” Bold said.

And there may be other benefits to keeping windows open at night, according to Dr Shawn Fitzgerald, director of the Climate Reform Center at Cambridge University, as opening bedroom windows not only reduces the amount of viruses in circulation, but it can also help improve sleep and alertness throughout the day. By reducing the levels of carbon dioxide, which is the gas produced when we inhale.

“If carbon dioxide levels can be reduced to less than 2,000 parts per million, studies have shown that children’s learning and attention skills improve at this level,” Fitzgerald said.

Indeed, there is growing evidence that high carbon dioxide levels may also contribute to the cognitive impairment experienced by older adults, who are often home residents.

And a study published in 2015 by Harvard University researchers found that volunteers exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide had a hard time responding and using information.

Dr Fitzgerald adds that the best way in winter to ventilate the room is to open the window at the top rather than the bottom. “This is because cold air is denser and heavier than hot air, and cold air will slowly enter and sink to ground level,” thus protecting people from attacks of freezing air as the room continues to cool.

Dr Louise Selby, MD, MD in Guilford, Surrey, points out that if you don’t want to keep your windows open all the time, opening them for five minutes every hour can make a big difference to air quality.

Keeping the bedroom cool is also better for a comfortable sleep because it helps our body cool down, which is what we need to feel sleepy and stay that way until morning.

However, an open window is not good for everyone, as Dr. Fitzgerald explains: “You have to ventilate the place but you don’t have to freeze it, otherwise you will have to face a whole new set of health problems to worry about.”

According to government guidelines, people over the age of 65 or with pre-existing medical conditions should sleep in an ambient temperature of at least 18 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit).

They say this is because negative health effects can occur below 18 ° C, such as high blood pressure and the risk of blood clots, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks (research suggests this is due to the fact that it causes blood vessels to constrict. Close to the skin, to maintain heat).

Likewise, cold air could mean that people with diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is an umbrella term for conditions that affect the airways, may have difficulty breathing. Studies show that they have a better respiratory health if they increase the temperature indoors, therefore, they do not sleep in cold rooms.

For asthma sufferers, it’s a good idea to keep the bedroom at least 18 degrees Celsius and wear warm clothing, says Emma Robach, head of health counseling at the British Asthma Foundation and the British Lung Foundation.

“Cold air itself does not cause disease, but it can irritate the cells lining the upper airways, making asthmatics more vulnerable to chest infections,” says John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary, University of London. But for most of us, breathing fresh air may be exactly what a doctor orders.