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The picture of a good night's sleep: A room in which the windows are shut! Photo: Getty Images
For the last three and a half years, I have lived on the ground floor of an apartment building on a reasonably quiet street, and in those years, I have come to the conclusion that sleeping with the windows open is overrated. I know, I know, I'm basically telling you I hate fresh air, but the truth is, there are many advantages to sleeping with the windows closed, chief among them: Actually sleeping.
In any season, noise is the primary reason for hitting the hay with your windows locked up tight. While I live in an urban locale where there are people on the streets at all hours and garbage pick-ups right outside my bedroom at dawn, noise is a problem everywhere. In the suburbs, you have barking dogs and the neighbor's barbecue that turned into a late-night affair. There's not even peace in the country: I recall opening the windows of a room in a country house on a cool summer night and looking forward to the summer breeze lulling me to sleep. Sadly, that blissful slumber was broken by a very early morning riding lesson given by an instructor with a booming voice at the neighboring horse farm.
Another reason to sleep with the windows shut is to enjoy the comforts of air conditioning. For years I was one of those New Yorkers who proudly declared, "Oh, I don't have an air conditioner." I thought people were wimps to need AC (I grew up in a house without it), and I shuddered at the thought of sleeping in all that stale air. However, my last apartment came with an in-window unit that I reluctantly accepted and used on only the hottest days. Today, I've caved in completely: I bought an AC unit for my current pad and if the temperature is anywhere in the upper-70s or higher when I'm ready to retire, I close the windows and fire up the air conditioner. Because you know what? Sleeping soundly is priceless. The cool air, the decreased humidity and the sweet white noise of the air conditioner's hum add up to a better night's sleep than fresh air through an open window.
Bugs are yet another argument against open windows. Even with screens in place, mosquitoes can work their way in to the bedroom and feast on you while you sleep. One summer in Brooklyn things got so bad (the borough was experiencing a major mosquito infestation that year) that I took to putting on bug spray before bed in the hopes that it would let me sleep in peace -- I now realize I should have just shut the window and turned on the AC.
While I, myself, am not an allergy sufferer (thank goodness), those who are afflicted with seasonal irritations have further motivation to keep those windows firmly shut. Throwing your windows wide open leaves you vulnerable to pollen from trees, grasses and weeds; sleeping in an air-conditioned room with a clean filter is the best bet to keep symptoms at bay.
Now, I'm not such a curmudgeon that I don't enjoy the kiss of a cool summer's breeze as I slumber, especially on a rainy summer night when the air is just so, but I will say that more and more often I'm leaving my windows shut. And I love it.
What about you guys? Do you sleep with windows open or shut?
Reader comments (Page 3 of 3)
why does it have to be mexicans, jerry? why? you're just a racist bastard. Most of the serial killers in america are white. what have mexicans done to you make you dislike them? do you really think that all mexicans are the same?? go open your eyes.
ReplyRamirez, just to set your mind at ease, was born in El Paso TEXAS (that's in the USA). His parents were Mexican immigrants, but Richard was American-born and -raised. (In fact, one of his cousins was a Special Forces Vietnam vet who boasted to Richard of killing and torturing Vietnamese women. The cousin also killed his own wife while Richard was just a couple of feet away. Bear in mind, that even immigrants can earn full citizenship through serving in the Armed Forces.)
ReplyIncidentally, do the names John Wayne Gacy or Timothy McVeigh or Jeffrey Dahmer or Eric Robert Rudolph sound familiar? They're just a few of the "red-blooded Americans" (born and bred) who've committed murders. How about Ted Bundy? He was not only a WHITE boy born in the USA (in Vermont) but raised in the USA, active in the Methodist Church, a Boy Scout, and a Republican. If you want to play a race/ethnicity card, make sure of your facts, and, more importantly, be careful of the mud you start slinging since it can come back to hit you in the face.
I'm not a big fan of running up the bills if I can comfortably open some windows. Fresh air is nice to let into your home (well, I like it). Note: I just wouldn't live where there is a lot of loud noise right outside my home ... but that's just me.
ReplyLOL This is the most racist thing I've read in a long time. Thanks for the lulz.
ReplyI sleep with the windows open, and I'm not afraid of mexicans. They are afraid of me.
ReplySleep with your windows open, and you risk waking up dead. Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere, and have an alarm system AND a big, scary dog. That's how I see it.
ReplyWow, what a patriotic statement! Just how racist are you? Try substituting "American" for "Mexican" and see how stupid it is to condemn an entire country. Check the air quality in your house. Your stereotyping already stinks!
ReplyWhy on earth was the original article/blog published and headlined on ther main AOL page?
ReplyWas it a slow news day? This is pathetic.
Unfortunately, cities don't have clean air - period. If you're fortunate enough to live in the woods, as I am, the babling brook, the chirping cicida, the tree frogs and the wind in the trees are all good reasons to leave your windows open. Crime in the woods is virtually nonexisent.
ReplyI would love to sleep with my windows open in the spring or fall but being allergic to many things prohibit that from happening. The only time we can have our windows open is after the first hard frost and before the deep winter sets in. Otherwise, it is AC from March until October, Pollen through Harvest...
ReplyIf you live anywhere near abig town, an airport, hiway, big shopping mall, there's no such thing as "fresh" air. Fresh air now is what comes out of a/cs and air filters. In my younger days in Brooklyn the fresh air you smelled at nights consisted of aromas from a pickle factory, horse manure and dog crap, weeds & garbage from the empty lot next door, tobacco smoke, boiling cabbage. Even now in the clean LI suburb I live in, fresh air comes with another set of stinks & humidity. God bless air conditioning, sealed windows, insulation. Gottta keep out that nasty fresh air.
ReplyAny night in which the temp falls below 70, I've got both windows wide open. Love it!
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