Study Shows Nearly Every Couple Argues Over the Thermostat

No marriage is perfect.
My marriage isn’t, your marriage isn’t, George and Amal’s marriage isn’t, not even Blake and Ryan’s marriage is without its struggles. We are all different people, and no matter how well you know one another, there will always be conflict. Sometimes big, sometimes small, but there will always be issues of disagreement, and those issues are bound to be unique to your own relationship.
Except this one.
Almost all married couples argue about the thermostat. It’s the source of countless jokes, and memes, and moments in bad sitcoms because it’s true. It’s a stereotype for a reason. And now we have the science to back it up!
A company called Vivint Solar has published a report around thermostat arguments, and these numbers make a lot of sense.
75% of women and 74% of men admit to fighting over the temperature in the house, with the arguments breaking down in two ways: 33% think their partner keeps the house too cold and 31% think it’s too hot. 36% actually say it’s fine, so apparently they don’t need counseling UNLIKE THE REST OF US!
Helpfully, the study provides a little bit of guidance so as to not let the thermostat wars destroy your union. Vivint Solar enlisted Dr. Margaret Paul, a relationship expert, to offer some tips.
“What happens in conflicts like these, is that each person generally just wants to win—it can turn into a power struggle,” she says. “The way out of that is to be open to understanding not only their own feelings, but the other person’s, as well. It’s very interesting what happens when people are open to learning rather than just trying to win. When they’re caring about themselves and caring about the other person, then they can come to a resolution.”
What I think she means is: keep your paws off the thermostat and throw on a blanket!
That’s what 23% of the people who responded to this survey do, with 28% of women saying they’ll grab a blanket or a sweater and let it go. Only 17% of men are willing to raise that olive branch, with most men preferring to continue to argue. Probably for the make-up sex.
If you don’t want to fight and you don’t want to layer up, the study suggests that a temperature of 70 degrees is the perfect compromise, with both men and women agreeing on that number. I dunno though, just one degree less seems nice to me.