One's too hot, one's too cold: How to get a good night's sleep when you're fighting over the thermostat

Picture it: you're settling down in bed for the night. You've gotten your pillows adjusted perfectly, and you're all cozy in your nice warm blanket. You're just starting to drift off when... Bam! Your partner decides it's too hot and throws off the blankets, letting in an icy blast of cold air and jolting you into a wide-awake state.

Sound familiar? Temperature is one of the most important components of a good sleep environment, but there are no hard and fast rules about what is an ideal temperature for sleeping. "Too hot" or "too cold" varies widely from person to person, but being uncomfortably chilly or warm can disrupt sleep and make for some unpleasant nights.

It has been estimated that up to 80 percent of couples face differences in what they view as a comfortable sleeping temperature. So what do you do when one of you likes things on the cool side and the other prefers to be toasty?

Start with a lower bedroom temperature to make things comfortable for the partner who likes to be cool. The warmer partner can heat things up by choosing warmer sleepwear, such as long sleeves and long pants, and can keep an extra blanket on their side of the bed in case they get chilly. The partner who prefers things to be cooler can sleep in lighter pajamas and use just a sheet or thinner blanket.

If you're willing to spend some money to make things more comfortable, there are a few different sleeping aid options. A larger bed can give partners a bit more room to spread out away from another warm body or add on blankets to heat up. Products such as blankets that are wool on one half and cooler cotton on the other or dual-temperature heated and cooled mattress pads may also help you sleep better.

Finally, you can try keeping a standing fan on the hotter partner's side of the bed. This will allow cool air to blow on him or her while not interfering with the other partner's temperature.

So don't let a difference in sleep temperatures make or break your relationship. Follow these tips to ensure you both get a great night's sleep.