Is it bad to sleep with the fan blowing in your face?
I was just wondering if anyone knows whether or not it's bad to sleep with a fan blowing in your face. I know this might seem like a weird question but I have heard this being said before and I was wondering if anyone has any insight about it.
Answers ( 2 )
In my experience, it's a bad thing. It dries the sinuses, mouth and skin - and can make it hard to breathe, and that dryness can cause sinus inflammation, headaches, stuffy nose. It's a good idea if needed, to put a fan in a sleeping room aimed at a wall so the air isn't directly on you. A breeze is one thing, but depending on the setting, it can be like a strong wind. On the lowest setting it's equal to about a 5 mph wind. If the fan is for keeping cool, then it's best to have a varying wind speed, and aimed at your body. An oscillating fan would be good. For a regular fan, like a box fan, that's much too much breeze - a breeze can cause too much loss of moisture on the skin, which defeats the cooling nature of the fan. If the fan is to aid breathing, well, then something else may be wrong - the sinuses may be congested, which is better dealt with other ways; or there may be difficulty breathing from other reasons, like allergies, which it would be more of a help to have an air filtering machine in the room. A very very light air blowing but away from your face is really a better option. And use a small fan, not a larger one for sleeping.
There is an old Korean tradiion about people dying due to having a fan on overnight.
There are a number of explanations for the tradition - early electronics catching on fire and people suffocating. But a few years ago a friend from Korea pointed out that it was probably a euphemism used for people who committed suicide. Parents would say the fan thing instead so as to be more delicate.