Room temperature is usually considered to be about 72° F, or 22° C. The question we are asking is why this should feel comfortable. Body temperature, after all, is considerably warmer. Shouldn't we feel most comfortable when the air is at body temperature? Why not set our thermostats to 98.6° F, or 37° C? The answer has to do with the fact that we like to wear clothing. Layers of clothes retain heat. If the room air temperature were the same temperature as our bodies (98.6° F, or 37° C), we wouldn't be able to radiate away this heat. We would feel hot. In order for the heat generated by our bodies to escape, the air temperature around us has to be considerably lower. At a room temperature of about 72° F, or 22° C, and while wearing the normal amount of clothing, enough heat is able to radiate away from our bodies where skin is exposed (C), through our faces and ears (B), and through the clothing itself (A), to keep us feeling comfortable. If the room air were any warmer, this radiation would not be enough to keep us at a comfortable temperature. The opposite would be true if we spent a lot of time at room temperature wearing very few clothes, or naked. With too much skin exposed, our bodies would radiate too much heat, and we would feel cold. We would feel completely comfortable when naked only if the room temperature were close to body temperature, 37° C, and we weren't moving around (generating more heat).

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