Scientists and medical experts call it “acclimatization,” or the process by which people acclimate to temperature.

In healthy people who are generally in good physical condition, this process usually takes about two weeks, says Dr. G. Edgar Polk, a physiology professor at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. “This process is faster in response to heat, but slower in the cold."

Although Dr. Polk didn't consult Experts In Your Home, we see and hear evidence of this conclusion all the time. Based on the calls we get, people absolutely do have more difficulty adapting to the cold temperatures.

This difficulty partly explains why people are so eager to know how to set their home thermostat in the winter so that everyone stays warm, but so that – and here's the tricky part – they don't unwittingly send their monthly gas bill into the stratosphere, either.

As Experts In Your Home often does, it consults the country's leading “professors” of energy practices: the U.S. Department of Energy. Anticipating that you might not fully warm up to the advice from its team of experts, we've culled some tips from our own team of heating system technicians to help you stay warm indoors as you fully acclimate to the cold.

Practical (and Maybe Chilly) Advice

You might need more than a warm blanket as you learn what the U.S. Department of Energy says about winter thermostat settings; a sense of humor would help, too: “When you are home and awake, set your thermostat as low as is comfortable.”

Before you give this advice the cold shoulder, it might help to remember that the department's overarching mission is to foster safe energy-efficient practices. And it does quantify the advice: “You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit while you're awake and setting it lower while you're asleep or away from home.”

But just how low is low enough? California's Consumer Energy Center recommends 55 degrees, but the department of energy expectedly encourages homeowners to go a little further, noting that by “turning your thermostat back 10 to 15 degrees for eight hours, you can save 5 percent to 15 percent a year on your heating bill.”

Math-minded homeowners might wonder if turning down their thermostat will only cause their furnace to run “harder” to return a home's temperature to 68 degrees, thereby undermining the energy savings. To this, the department explains some of the laws of energy: “As soon as your house drops below its normal temperature, it will lose energy to the surrounding environment more slowly. The lower the interior temperature, the slower the heat loss. So the longer your house remains at the lower temperature, the more energy you save because your house has lost less energy than it would have at the higher temperature.”

Moreover, as we explained in “Common mistakes people make when heating their home,” thermostats don't function like the accelerator on your car. In other words, your furnace will not produce any more heat, or at a faster rate, the higher you set the temperature on your thermostat. Your home only will take longer to reach the set temperature. Furnaces pump out the same amount of heat, no matter what the temperature.

Defy the Thermostat

Knowing all this, some practical tips (beyond wearing warm clothing) should help you stay warm at home:

• Remain vigilant about your annual furnace tune-up, which will help keep your furnace in peak condition
• Remain equally vigilant about checking your furnace filter every month and replacing it when it becomes dirty
• Apply caulk and weather-stripping around doors and windows and insulate your home (consult our advice in “Get your heating system ready: plug leaks and insulate”)
• Consider running a humidifier, which could make a home whose temperature is set at 68 degrees feel more like 72 degrees

If this last idea alone is appealing, contact Experts In Your Home for a consultation. We'll show you the options -- to help you fully acclimate to the colder temps.

For more tips on heating your home efficiently, download our free eBook below: