Edit: Context behind this question is because my parents always tell me to shut the windows all the way and I kinda feel like I'm suffocating... literally... (it's Winter here)

Like I just struggle to breathe with windows closed...

So I'm just curious, how do y'all not suffocate while trying to keep house warm and spend less on heating?

Northern part of a Nordic country: never during winter; never closed during summer, unless raining.

Daily, all year roun,for a short time.

Let me introduce you to Stoßlüften.

Southern US, windows are only open in winter, basically whenever it's comfortable outside. Never in the summer. The A/C runs basically 24hrs a day during the hottest 2 months of the year.

Windows on the car are basically left cracked for the opposite time. Rain deflector are installed to allow for this without rain getting in.

Spring: Never, my partner is allergic to tree pollen released during the spring, nor does the indoor temperature warrant opening the windows

Summer: Sometimes in late summer - I am allergic to grass pollen highly prevalent in early summer. Once they clear, I open the windows when it's warmer inside than outside, to cool down my apartment slightly

Autumn: Rarely. The temperature usually does not warrant opening the windows

Winter: Never. It's far too cold to let heat intentionally escape

How I avoid suffocation: my apartment is well-ventilated, this is not an issue whatsoever

Stale air contains high levels of CO₂, which can make you feel tired

Oh... no wonder why my circadian rhythm is fucked up... I feel so tired in the day and now its 1AM and I'm wide awake... 🫠

The four days out of the year that it's comfortable weather in Texas, I'll open the window. But only with the screen still on, or mosquitoes get in.

Edit: "comfortable" = between 75-80°F

I have sensors that let me know when the outdoor temperature and humidity are both better than indoors so I can open the windows. Typically that’s an hour or two a day in the winter when the weather is nice, and most of the day in the summer.

I always have a window cracked open in my room, but SoCal coastal weather is best in the world year round. There are few locations with deep water upwelling AND onshore flow atmospheric patterns. Of those, there is only one other location, in Peru, where it is also a temperate desert.

Dane here. I open all windows for five minutes two times a day, also in the winter.

Neat, that was a fun read! I'll have to try it!

Dies ist der einzigste Weg.

This is the only way

Northern Spain here, they remain closed all winter except the few times I open them to ventilate. Next month I'll probably start opening them during the day and at some point in May or June they'll remain open until the end of September or so.

Windows? not often, but I leave my wooden door open, so the kitties can look out and see the birds and stuff.

Forced air furnace. Windows don't open until summer.

Wenn schon, dann auch the onliest way.

Pretty temperate here.

Doors and windows open at least some of the day all year round.

I love sleeping with the windows open in the summer.

Still too much! I haven't migrated everything to Linux yet (poor me).

Your parents are right in terms of energy waste, im sorry to say.

I'm quite similar though and air about five times a day but with a timer so that the air gets circulated completely without cooling out the house itself.

The breathing struggle is most likely a mix of dust sensitivity and psychology. For me an air cleaner made a huge difference in my comfort level.

I'd you want to go the scientific approach get a CO2 monitor (the most important element for brain performance when talking about home air) and a PM2.5 sensor for dust levels.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, which means temperatures don't fluctuate too much into extremes.

I personally like having the window cracked at night in the winter. I like to have fresh air, even if it's cold. I feel sick if a room feels too stuffy.

Spring, summer, and fall the windows are definitely open at least at night if not during a larger part of the day. If it's ~15-25C outside, I'll usually have at least one window open. More likely two in the 20s. I just don't tolerate heat well, so I will close my windows during the heat of the day when it approaches 30s.

Otherwise they're only closed if outside is gross (smoke, people talking, hazy) or if I want total silence.

My bdroom windows are open almost the time, except when it's 30+ degrees in summer (to keep the heat out, we close it during the day) or below and -5 in the winter (to keep the heat in, we close it during the night).

My weather is the same but I live on the first floor on a very busy Los Angeles street, so opening the windows lets in too much unfiltered grit and smog. I do step out onto the balcony daily to care for my plants and feed the birds, so some air gets in then.

Canada here. Winter never, unless we have a rare warm (above -10c/14f) day. Spring as often as I can if/when it's nice enough outside. Summer usually open until the temps get around 27c/80f then closed and the air conditioner on.

I live in a roughly 100 yr old house though, so with all the cracks etc this place tends to self-ventilate anyway.

Ventilation is very important to keep the air inside breathable and to keep things like mold outside.

I like to show the importance of this by lighting some incense (or vaping a bit) to show how the smoke just does not go away with the window closed. The same happens with the CO2 that comes out of your mouth, you just don't see it in that case.

Exceptions would be when your building has some other ventilation system built in, but the smoke would show that.

Overhere I always have some form of ventilation open (our house has these ventilation thingies above the windows, that I get angry about when my partner closes them).

Hehe

Also, Linux is really quite nice nowadays 😉

Unless the air quality outside is poor or worse, the window stays open so I can cope with the reactive compounds created by the gas stove in my rental. I don't really know when my roommate cooks, so I just leave it cracked open a bit. I do live in Canada's PNW so it's not that big of an issue.

Pretty much daily working from home in southern California. My dogs and I get pretty antsy without fresh air and noises.

Depends on temperature. If it's below 10C all day, then generally never, maybe every day or 2 for 10 mins to let some fresh air in. 10-15C, probably most rooms on the first latch during the day and most closed at night. Over 15C and windows open mostly including on the latch at night.

I try to open my bedroom window as little as possible because the air outside is usually poor quality and I have an active air filter monitoring my room and removing crud from it. I LOVE living in a car centric city in a country who's government has been partly captured by oil companies and dealerships at all levels.

I like to think the plants I have in my room help with the CO₂, but I don't feel they make that much of a difference.

As a foreigner living in Germany, I just knew this would be the main response. Germans LOVE to air out rooms

As soon as the air feels stale you gotta turn off your heating and open all windows for like 5-10 mins in the cold seasons. Air is bad at carrying heat anyway, if you close your windows it'll get warm again quickly.

German "Stoßlüften"

I live in a forested countryside in the Northern Midwest. Leaving the windows open invites in bugs and other small critters. Even with screens on the windows, insects crawl through the cracks, and I've definitely had several field mice chew their way through screens. I also have rabbits and possums who tend to nest up against the foundation of my house, and if a lower window is left open for prolonged periods, I sometimes find babies nesting in the window frame.

If I open my windows, it's for a limited time to get some fresh air moving through the house. I'll turn on strategically placed fans in various rooms to encourage rapid airflow through the house so I can close the windows sooner.

I only open windows in the winter if I need to cool a room quickly. For instance, I'm renting my first floor to a friend and I live on the second floor. But I only have one HVAC unit and thermostat for the entire house. The first floor always stays a few degrees cooler than the second floor (heat rises), so I keep it a little extra hot upstairs to ensure I'm not freezing out my friend. But I'm always hot in general, so I'll either have fans on me all winter, or I'll occasionally shut myself in a bedroom and open the window for 15-20 minutes, just to lower my body temp a bit and help me tolerate the hot house.

There have been a few winter nights where my wife and I have left the bedroom window open to cool down our bedroom, while burying ourselves in thick blankets. We don't sleep well if we're sweaty and stuck to the bed. I usually get up a few hours later and close the window, so we don't freeze overnight.

Daily, at least once in the morning and later in the evening. A lot more often whenever it's possible. Summer and winter.

I have windows in my house that have not been closed for 20 years. The one in my bedroom for one.

Every day.

We use an estufa during the colder months so we crack open a window so we don't die of CO poisoning

This is an estufa:

Forgets to open window one time

"Mommy I don't feel so good, I wanna go to sleep..."

💀

Sadly my upstairs and downstairs neighbours are chain smokers. They close their windows and the balcony doors and I get all the (pot) smoke. Why does Germany have so many smokers?

Lol mom told me to "go outside if you can't breathe" 🙃

So what do I choose, freeze to death or suffocate to death?

I dont think we ever circulate the air... felt like I lost a few iq points... from the lack of oxygen

How to install Linux in my house?

Can I do "sudo circulate air" without losing warmth?

At least once a day. Really depends on the temperature, though. On hot days I open it in the morning to let cool air in, on cold days I avoid leaving it open and only open it temporarily when the air gets noticeably stale, leaving the room when I do so. Inbetween I usually leave it open the entire day.

Though, I only open it fully in the mornings of hot days. Other times I always leave it tilted only.

isnt also the lack of sunlight too during winter makes you depressed, less VITAMIN D more depression.

same here. you probably need alot of plants to make a difference, or larger ones. monstera, dracaena, rubber tree fig

mediterrenean climate, california, chile, perth, S africa,,,etc.

I've lived in my current home six years and I'm not even sure the windows are capable of opening. It's wild to me that some people believe they're gonna run out of oxygen if they don't open a window

It's not a building, its a townhouse. I don't think the air circulates unless you open windows.

My house always feels so suffocating since windows never get opened so I have to open it in my room, then I get yelled at and I begrudgingly close it then be sad that I struggle to breathe.

Sometimes its warm outside (spring/summer/fall) and I open windows on the living room areas, then next day I find it closed again... and I just get tired of opening the windows...

I'm in a microclimate that is even more unique than most of SoCal. You would have to visit to really understand it. I would not have believed it until I moved here. The temp where I live is 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit different than the surrounding area even just a few miles away. It only exists within a mile or so of the ocean. Riding a bike everywhere for years was quite fun because the weather always gets better the closer I get to home. It could be in the low 40's F at night in Irvine, but it will be 55-60 F in San Clemente in the winter. It may be nearly 100 F in Mission Viejo in Summer, but it will still be 75 F in San Clemente. It has to do with the water, mountains, and how this area is situated at the edge of the LA Basin. It causes the wind patterns to be favorable here across both major regional weather patterns. If you go diving here, it also becomes obvious. There are three major thermoclines even at recreational diving depths and the first one hits hard at just a couple meters down. The cold water is why there are never hurricanes here. Any disturbances of the surface mixes the thermoclines and prevents building strong storms. When the air gets too hot, this area is covered in a marine layer at night because of the water temperature and that is what keeps it much cooler. San Clemente is where that phenomenon starts. There are actually cheesy little tourist shirts sold about the place in Peru that is supposedly the only other location with the same microclimate in the world.

I use linux

My body runs like an oven when I’m asleep. To that end, I have the heating off by the time I’m in bed (winter), and if the air still isn’t crisp enough, I’ll open the window a crack.

In the warmer months I straight up cannot sleep if the windows are closed.

Edit: forgot to mention that I am in the UK

I basically never open my windows. This winter, I don’t think I opened them at all except maybe during a big cleaning day.

In Japan, ventilation is required by law, and most modern houses are equipped with a 24-hour ventilation system. Because of that, we don’t really need to open the windows to get fresh air — the system continuously circulates air for us.

At the same time, it doesn’t make the house noticeably colder in winter or hotter in summer. The air also goes through filters, which is especially nice during pollen season.

So I don’t really feel suffocated even with the windows closed, since the air is still being exchanged constantly.

Maybe you could get a dehumidifyer, measure the humidity first to figure out if it's necessary

Yes, but rather without sudo.

(real example )