When the World Health Organization (WHO) set out to review what living in a cold building meant for our health its researchers were perplexed.
Back in 1987, the WHO recommended indoor temperatures be maintained at 18℃, or 20–21℃ in rooms used by older people.
But the researchers couldn’t find the evidence behind this recommendation, and when they reviewed more recent studies they concluded with only a “moderate” degree of certainty that warming a cold house (perhaps to a minimum indoor temperature of 18°C) would reduce the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illness and death.
