With oil prices so high, how low can I safely set my home thermostat?

The American College of Emergency Physicians recommends that you keep home temperatures no lower than 65 degrees during the day and 55 degrees at night.

The big danger of setting the thermostat too low is hypothermia, or a body temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit or less, said Dr. Rick Blum, president of the doctors' group. ''Hypothermia can have an insidious onset in older adults," Blum added -- and since muddled thinking is among the first signs, people often don't realize they're in danger. Some go to sleep and never wake up.

It is also a ''big no-no" to try to stay warm by using your oven for heat, said Mary-Liz Bilodeau, a critical-care nurse in the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Not only do you run the risk of burning yourself on the oven, drafts in the kitchen can pull flames out of the oven, potentially starting a fire.

If you use a space heater, be exceedingly careful. Don't leave the house or go to bed with it on and don't put it near anything flammable -- curtains, clothes, furniture.

Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas produced by burning anything with carbon in it, is another serious wintertime threat, said Dr. Tracy Wimbush, an emergency room physician at MGH. Improperly vented wood stoves, furnaces, generators -- and gas grills brought inside -- can all release carbon monoxide. As with hypothermia, many people lie down to sleep -- and die. In addition to installing smoke detectors, you should install CO detectors.

If you need help paying for fuel, you can call the National Energy Assistance Referral Project, 1-866-674-6327, or visit www.energynear.org. Many states also offer fuel assistance; in Massachusetts, the state number is 1-800-632-8175.

JUDY FOREMAN

E-mail health questions to Foreman@globe.com.