Have you ever stopped to consider that making your bed first thing in the morning could be unhygienic?
On average, we spend one third of our lives in bed. That’s a lot of time spent wriggling around, shedding skin and sweating under the covers.
This creates the perfect environment for dust mites, microscopic critters that love damp and humid environments.
Studies have found that the average bed contains 1.5 million dust mites, and ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow is made up from dead dust mites and their droppings.
Whilst you may have been taught from a young age to make your bed as soon as you get up to keep your bedroom looking neat and tidy, this could actually be quite a disgusting habit.
Crawling out of a warm bed and immediately pulling up the covers traps the warm humid air in your bedding and mattress and helps to nurture the thriving colonies of dust mites.
A study performed by Kingston University, found that dust mites cannot survive in warm and dry conditions, so, great news, an unmade bed is healthier and more hygienic!
When you leave your duvet pulled back during the day it helps the bed to air, drying any moisture and killing off dust mites.
This is particularly important if you’re an allergy sufferer as dust mites can aggravate existing allergies and asthma.
Many people also vacuum their mattress to get rid of dust mites. This can be done once every couple of months or so by lightly sprinkling your mattress with baking soda, letting it sit for at least 15 minutes, and then vacuuming the baking soda back up.
This will not only suck up some of the live dust mites, but also a lot of the dead ones too.
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