When sleeping, door open or closed?

Agr8lemon@lemmy.world to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 285 points –

Do, you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed and why?

229

Closed, to keep the monsters out.

Closed and LOCKED. What if the monsters can open doors?

Closed, locked, and BLOCKED. What if monsters can pick locks?

Closed, locked, blocked and ARMED. what if the monsters have telekinesis to lift the blockade?

Implying the monster doesnt have a portal under your bed already

I do keep mine licked because my cat (who may or may not be a monster) will open the door if I don't.

I guess you have to be a cat person to understand licking doors.

You need to remember that licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets.

what if the monsters are ghosts

I refuse to acknowledge the possibility of ghosts! All monsters must have a physical form!

What if they are already in and now they can't escape!

Closed. This can be lifesaving in case of a fire.

link

This right here. As a firefighter I’ve seen it. Also nowadays if the door is open I can’t sleep…I just keep opening my eyes and seeing that open door…

Alright, so here's the deal.

I don't like the setup of my house, but it is what it is. My kids room door is at a 90 degree angle to ours. I've always wanted to install and practice an escape since we're on the second floor, but my ex wife had a problem with that (go figure). When I manage to get her out of my house, how do I go about retraining my kid with this? He absolutely refuses to sleep with the door shut, even with one of us in the room, and if he wakes up with it shut, it's bloody murder.

Her logic (that'd I have been overridden on) is that I am literally 4 steps away from his bed in an emergency, and I could leap in, close the door and escape through that window. Mind you I'm 207 227(edit, she cheated on me again and I caught her on 06/05, probably caused the weight gain) lbs and deathly afraid of fire.

What I want to do is install one of the fire escape ladders that rolled through the window and practice going down that with my kid before working on getting him to close the door at night.

Is there an order I should do these things? Like door first, then escape? Or escape first, then door?

Did you even click the link provided? It provides some pretty good reasons with examples and a video demonstration of why it's so important. I don't know anything about your ex wife or what your living situation is, but maybe show it to her not as an "I'm right you're wrong" thing but as a genuine safety of your kid thing.

As for your child screaming bloody murder, there comes a time when you need to realize you're the parent and they're the child. For obvious reasons they are not equipped to make decisions regarding their own safety, which is why they're supposed to have you. Sit down with and have a conversation with them Mr. Roger's-style (meaning don't treat them like they're an idiot), maybe try and make a game out of it. If they still scream then honestly too bad, let them cry it out. You don't have debates with your child about if they can stick a fork in an outlet or not do you?

This. He asked for parenting advice and this is good shit.

I don't debate shit when it comes to safety with my kid. To be honest, it isn't even a doubt in my mind that his door should be shut. It's his mother. But I think you (intentionally or not) may have said exactly the way I need to go about this:

It's about his safety. Not her sleep. a few bad nights of sleep is worth it (to me at least).

First step IMHO is to understand what problem your kid is solving by having the door open.

Door open. My kitty sleeps in bed with me and she likes to come and go in the night, she'd wake me up if the door was closed!

Yep, I had a cat that would paw on the door if it wasn't open. I decided to see how long he'd stick with it. My sanity broke at 2 hours. He won and it was open from that night forward.

I installed a little door in my door for this exact reason. Best of both worlds.

Door Inspector here. Do you have a permit to install a door inside another door?

I was granted one upon presenting my previously tattered door. The cat was declared innocent, and I didn't press charges

I put dog doors on most of my doors because of my cat, otherwise she'd just sit at it meowing until it was opened.

Closed because many years ago a firefighter gave a fire safety talk at our elementary school. He told us to keep the door closed at night since it can give you an extra 30 minutes to escape in a fire. For some reason this advice stuck with me...

Open, because cat

I feel exposed if it's swung all the way open though. I just leave it ajar for the kitty.

Likewise, if my door was closed the kitties would scratch from the outside and make a nuisance of themselves.

Gotta train them that doing that doesn't get them the outcome they want. I make it a policy with my cats that if they wake me up, they get yeeted to the basement.

When they were new, that meant picking them up and carrying them to the laundry room and closing the door. It evolved to me simply carrying them to the top of the stairs and setting them on the top step, and now all I have to do is open the door when they scratch or yowl and they scatter. It took a while, but now they only bother me at night when there's another cat in the yard and they want to get to my window to look out.

This is one advanced cat managing to post on social media.

Open, to let my stupid cat out otherwise he cries.

(I love him)

Closed. Open is a fire hazard.

Is that true?

It sure is; here's a video demonstrating the effectiveness. Shutting your door can mean the difference between life and death. I encourage anyone to watch or re-watch this, just to hammer it home.

Unfortunately, my cats can't deal with shut doors, so if there's ever a fire in my apartment, at least we'll all go together 🙃

Using thermal imaging cameras, researchers found that closed-door rooms on both floors during the fire’s spread had average temperatures of less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit versus 1000+ degrees in the open-door rooms. “You could see a markable difference that a person could be alive in a room with a closed door much longer,” says Kerber.

Gas concentrations were markedly different as well. The open-door bedroom measured an extremely toxic 10,000 PPM CO (parts per million of Carbon Monoxide), while the closed had approximately 100 PPM CO.

https://fsri.org/programs/close-before-you-doze

Given that my bedroom windows only open a crack and the balcony to escape down is in the living room, that wouldn't help me regardless.

In that case, keeping the doors and windows shut will give you the best chance of survival, because there will be less oxygen flow and thus a slower burn.

You’ll need to call in a fire emergency, lie low on the ground, and try to use a rag/shirt/towel to filter some of the smoke while you wait to be rescued. You still might die, but at least this way you have a chance.

Closed. Even a simple hollow core door can offer 30 minutes or more of protection from smoke and indirect fire. More time for alarms to go off and get to safety.

Fire protection 101. Closed bedroom doors, interconnected smoke alarms so when one goes off they all go off, and at least two exits per room.

We have fire ladders in the upstairs rooms and, most importantly, we've done drills so we know how to use them.

we've done drills so we know how to use them.

Had a house fire in '88. You're a fucking hero on that with actually practicing. We were dumb but super lucky as we just lost everything and noone.

Hmm, I never considered that. If you have working alarms does this still make a difference?

Sometimes, a perfectly terrible fire (in a perfectly unlucky layout of a house) could emit toxic gases / smoke in sufficient quantities to impair you, potentially to the point of not being able to react to the alarm. At that point you may not escape.

Closed. If there's a fire in the other parts of your house, you'll have more time to be alerted and escape.

Closed. Damn cat. She's not looking to snuggle into bed. She wants to wake you up. Why? Who knows.

Mine screams outside the door if I close it.

Same but I still don't let him in. Dude has no chill, he would knock all my shit to the floor if he had unsupervised access to my room.

open so cats can walk freely

Indeed. It is not us that sleep with the door open. It's the cats' choice.

nods I used to sleep with the door shut and locked, and the home alarm on whenever I was out. That's no longer true ever since the queen demanded that I do neither.

I'm the opposite. I like it when the cat curls up on my feet, but I'm not a fan of just letting them stalk through the house and jump around freely when I'm trying to flipping sleep.

They can't not do that, so they get shut out. And I taught them early on that if they yowl and scratch at the door on the middle of the night, they're just gonna get launched down the stairs.

Cats only get to be the boss if you let them. They absolutely can be trained to not be total tyrants.

Open, so that the air that gets pumped into my room can tell the Mr. Thermostat in the hall that it's actually fine in there and they don't need to call Mr. Furnace or Mrs. A/C.

Closed for AC, but open a crack to let the clingy cat in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out.

Open. I have dogs and cats. I wouldn't get a second of sleep if i locked either dogs or cats out of the bedroom

Closed unless it's too hot in my room. Feels uncomfortable leaving my door open. It'll let me hear killers coming

Open, because my cat sleeps on my bed/floor

Closed. I have an 18 year old who has been working the closing shift a lot this summer. I don't want to be woken.

Not fully closed, so the cat it's less annoying through all the night.

If my door is closed my kitty cat will constantly remind me of that

Closed almost all the way, but not shut. Need that air circulation otherwise the room gets too hot

closed door because roomates, but open balcony door for maximum fresh air and feels of nature.

Open, because kids.

I would have thought that would be a reason to keep it closed!

I lock my kids away in the cupboard under the stairs.

If I can't hear them being quiet when they should be and noisy when they should be, my primitive unconscious mind pokes the conscious part to check. And now we have a young dog added to that roster. Ah, motherhood.

Always fully open! More airflow, less stuffiness. Having said that, we don’t share a home with anyone else.

Bed room door closed, but usually not locked. 8 sentry turrets have the outer perimeter of the house secured. /s

Open, because I have a split AC in the living room of my bungalow and the bedrooms get warm even with the doors open. Also the dog and cat would never allow a closed door, and they rule this roost.

Closed, I already have scars from our cat's mad night escapades.

Closed. Otherwise dog sneaks in, climbs up on the bed and falls asleep. The he slowly but surely takes over the whole bed.

Open. I live alone and I have a cat that comes and goes throughout the night. Having the door opened allows me to hear anything that should not be going on in the house.

Unless the burglar knows to close your door...

I prefer open, but I got a cat a few months ago that won’t leave me alone if I leave it open. So, closed.

they dont constantly scratch the door and meow?

Nope.

But I got lucky with a really chill cat. Like, ‘doesn’t mind having his claws trimmed’ chill.

Closed and locked. Open doors in the dark are creepy. Besides I want some privacy for certain "tasks".

Open for air circulation. My fiancee and I live in a too-small, old apartment which, naturally, has trash airflow. Getting the AC to decently reach the bedroom requires multiple fans.

I live on my own so all the doors in the flat are open all the time, even the bathroom ones.

Closed. I prefer my door closed for privacy reasons, so why would I keep it open when I sleep?

Prefer closed, but like many others here, the cat doesn’t allow for that without making her opinion VERY well known.

Depends on the outside temperature.

If it's warm outside, all my flat's windows are open and for better airflow I leave all doors open, too.

If it's cold outside, everything is closed to retain the heat in my bedroom.

Closed. My housemate's cats sometimes pounce onto my bed and wake me up.

The closed door also dampens outside noise.

20lb ragdoll cat who makes all-feet dough on your chest while you're ostensibly sleeping but now awake gasping for air despite the positional asphyxia. I feel ya.

10/10 still all good though, because #ragdoll

We have a saying in our house... "ghosts" that means close the door we are going to sleep and don't want to let the ghosts in. Closed. Always closed.

Your ghosts don't go through walls? Lucky!

They can, but if the door is closed, the ghost know you're not interested. They're polite that way.

Likewise, when you're covered by the sheets the monsters politely leave you alone. Uncovered? Fair game, kiddo.

Open because pets

Came here to say the same. Used to be closed then I got a cat and now I can't imagine waking up without her napping on me

Closed, air-conditioning is expensive. When me and my wife travel to colder areas we do tend to sleep with doors open though but it highly depends on the house itself. There has to be a certain vibe or fenshui so to speak where open door feels pleasant and not this uncertainty.

Open but I live alone in a small 1 bedroom apartment. Mostly so I can shuffle to the bathroom in the night if needed without needing to open the door

I want it closed, but the dog wants it open and his litter box is in the hallway. So, open it is.

Window open, door closed; window closed, door open. I do what I can to prevent unnecessary door slamming in the night caused by a draft from the window

Closed. Like to keep my room temperature like 10°C lower the rest of the house during the night

Open. The decline of the political climate in this country since 2001 has made me fear for my safety since I was in middle school, so keeping the door open helps satisfy that part of my brain that's always in threat detection mode by allowing me to hear everything in the house from my bed.

Plus, I live alone. So pretty much every door is open all the time.

that part of my brain that's always in threat detection mode

Life hack: third floor in a concrete building.

  • no one's coming in
  • 4 fob doors to get to me
  • it ain't burning
  • better air above the trees
  • centralized heating often includes cooling (old-ass jersey-style radiators are the bomb)

I am staying in a men's hostel. Cheaper that way as I am single. It is so hot here during summer. So we keep the door open at night. Three of us are there in the room. Everyone is ok with that.

Greatly prefer it closed, but leave it cracked for the kitty.

Open in summer, for ventilation. In winter it stays closed to let the bedroom be chilly, without affecting the rest of the place.

Open - just me and my husband here and it keeps the room cooler.

Thanks for sharing dicksinabag

Closed because I’m afraid of the dark most times. My cats don’t care they run around the living room. Dog sleeps with me on the floor at the bed to protect me.

Cracked open so we can hear across the house to our kids room (also cracked open)… baby gates in front of both rooms to prevent the cats from disturbing our sleep lol

Also our gate to prevent the kids from barging in during the middle of the night

All depends on whether you live with other people or not. If others can be in the house making noise then door closed. If you live alone then it doesn’t matter.

Open when I was at my house. Closed as I'm renting an apartment now with several flatmates.

I keep mine closed but not latched so the dogs can open it in the morning otherwise they sit outside and scratch and wake us up.

Fire vs CO2 buildup. I guess door closed, window open could be the way?

Open. I want to hear if anything happens in my house.

closed unless it's hot. closed gives me privacy and quiet and makes it darker, but if it's too hot having it open gives me better airflow.

Door half open so the cats can walk back and forth, but not so much that it’s too light in the morning.

Door closed, all the time. In case a cat gets in. But I’ve always slept with the door shut, in case monsters get in.

Door open if it's hot, usually with the fan pointing out the door. If it's REALLY hot, fan directly on me.

Depends, if it's hot enough to need the AC, door closed. If not, door open so I can open the window and get some airflow.

I prefer closed, but since our cat moved in, the door has been left ajar.

Open to keep the Monsters out, closed to keep the Monsters in.

Open. If my kids need help and call out in the middle of the night, I would like to hear them!

Closed in the winter, Open most of the summer so that the whole house fan can pull air in and through the bedroom cooling things down.

Closed cause I don't want to deal with people walking around late at night with lights on or the cats waking me up.

I keep mine slightly open and make sure there is a window open in my room and in another room to create a breeze

Open but these fire comments have me reevaluating

Winter: Closed. It can get to -25C where I live, and I need to sleep with the window open. I don't want the rest of my house ruined with the door open.

Summer: depends on the heat. If OK, closed. If too hot, door ajar

do you have your window open when the outside temperature is in the negatives?

Lol of course you would. Need fresh air.

edit: plus im guessing they live in norway or finland (ignoring sweden cuz fuck sweden) or canada. And we are used to the cold. Ive gone to school (2.7km at the time) in -33 C without gloves and normal clothes so

only -33 hey? i wish where i lived was that warm. I've gone to WORK (4km uphill both ways) in -40 without a shirt and just my booty shorts so...

Yea seems about right. U was lucky and lived at the sea. But someplaces in the region got to -45 in winter for several months

Closed. The only door I have is the door to the house floor, sooo..

Well, I have the bathroom door which I always leave open for ventilation reasons, but well.

Open for ventilation and to hear a potentially screaming kid.

Closed, it keeps the A/C in and other house noises out. It's also safer in the event of a fire or if someone breaks in.

Open slightly so I can let air flow my room from the window

Gotta have it open, it gets way too hot in the room otherwise (classic trailer heat/cold problems). Luckily my 2 dogs would wake me for any issues and we live a little ways from civilization so there are very few nights that the wife and I worry

my door doesn't close fully, so I close it all but the crack that is forced. I do this because people in the house are up and down constantly, and my sleep schedule would bd interrupted if I left it open.

Door open, windows covered. Allows the pets in and out and keeps my anxiety of people looking into my room on the low. Bonus for black-out curtains

Open straight into the hallway so my neighbors could walk in if they wanted to

Closed, I'm 2nd shift so my wakeup time is late enough I have to block all sunlight.