With the arrival of summer and heat waves, it becomes increasingly hard to sleep at night, and turning on the air conditioner tends to be one of the main ideas. However, it is in these moments that the big question arises: is it safe to turn on the air conditioner while you sleep? And the fan? This is a topic that sparks quite a bit of debate, especially when it concerns the youngest ones, since parents often fear that the cold could end up making their children catch a cold or even worsen their symptoms if they are already unwell. To bust this myth, doctor David Díaz has issued a message on his social networks: “air conditioning does not make you sick.”
Dr. Díaz explains that there is no need to fear the air conditioner because the device itself is not to blame for why children get sick. The real problem lies in how we use it; in fact, the doctor asserts that “it’s not the air that makes you ill, it’s the misuse of the air.”
What really harms the little ones is leaving the room too cold, dry, or without ventilation, since that extreme cold weakens their defenses. Therefore, the trick to using the air or the fan properly this summer is very simple. In the case of the air conditioner, you should set the temperature between 23 and 25 degrees, aiming for a comfortable room but it should be “never freezing”; on the other hand, with the fan, simply make sure it does not point directly at the face and that the air is renewed well so that the environment does not become closed and stale.
What happens if the child is already sick?
One of the biggest surprises revealed by the pediatrician is that fresh air can be a great ally when children are not feeling well. There is a false belief that if the child is sick, you must bundle them up and turn off any ventilation, something that, according to the expert, is wrong. “When a child has the flu, bronchitis, or a fever, sleeping in a cool room can even help them rest better,” says Dr. Díaz. That said, the specialist issues a very important warning about a very common practice in homes: avoiding covering the child up to the head in a completely closed room. According to the pediatrician, sleeping covered up to the head with the windows closed “can worsen congestion and dry the airways,” achieving the opposite of what is desired.
