Lisa Ackerly, home health hygienist, described Sick Bed Syndrome to the Daily Mail as a condition where the bed becomes a breeding ground not only for dust mites, but disease causing bacteria and viruses.
You can often tell you've missed out on stages three and four when you wake up in the morning. Even if you've been in bed for hours, you still feel groggy. Lack of mattress support is the main problem here. If the springs or foam become worn, it can lead to tension and joint pain during the night.
Pillows and bed sheets
Pillows are the first ones we lay our head into and will easily get excessive matters such as oil, makeup, bacteria, molds, bed bugs, and dust mites. If left unclean, your fluffs can give you allergies, breathing problems, sore throat, and headache.
Bacteria on your linen can cause breakouts, whiteheads, skin inflammation, and intense itching. They can also cause skin problems like acne or eczema or worsen existing conditions. Bacteria, dust mites, bed bugs are all responsible for affecting the health of your family's skin.
Over the years, your mattress may have trapped plenty of dust. While dust is mostly made up of harmless things like dead skin cells, there may also be allergy-causing substances such as bacteria and pollen. Once these have made their way into your mattress, it can be difficult to get them out even with deep cleaning.
Laying down to sleep but having to stay awake for fear that you might vomit is one of the worst feelings. Nighttime nausea can be caused by a number of things such as viral or bacterial infections, pregnancy, stress, and more.
Without regular cleaning, dirty sheets can contribute to allergies, skin breakouts, asthma, and more. For your health and sleep quality, it's important to keep things clean – but how often should you wash your sheets?
Joining you in bed are countless dust mites and bacteria, not to mention lots and lots of your own dead skin. Dermatologist Alok Vij, MD, says you should wash your sheets at least every two weeks — maybe more, depending on factors like whether you live in a warm climate and whether your pet sleeps in your bed.
Why do we even need to change our bedsheets? To cut to the chase, Dr Browning says we should be changing our sheets once a week, or every two weeks at the most. Hygiene is a big factor, and one of the reasons is sweat. If you've ever tried sleeping in a heatwave, you'll know how difficult it can be.
Common Symptoms:
Respiratory Symptoms – congestion, aggravated asthma or allergies, sinus infections. Cognitive Issues – foggy thinking, sleep disturbance, frequent headaches. Emotional Changes – feeling agitated or depressed. Physical Symptoms – stomach discomfort, muscle aches, fatigue, rashes, sore throat.
Consider Purchasing An Indoor Air Quality Monitor
Indoor air quality monitors test for various particles in the air, and you can find options that test for any or all of the following: Chemical Pollutants. Humidity. Carbon Monoxide.
So how can you minimize your VOC exposure? Consider investing in a polyethylene mattress cover. It can act as a barrier to keep some of the chemicals in your mattress instead of out in the air that you breathe. [A polyethylene mattress cover] is the only safe material that can actually stop VOCs from off-gassing.
Disinfect. To make extra sure that the area is clean of any germs, spray the mattress lightly with some rubbing alcohol. Again, you won't want to do too much, as you don't want too strong of a smell. If you're really worried about it, you could mix the rubbing alcohol with some essential oils, then spray.
“We recommend washing bath towels after every three uses, or at least once a week, to ensure truly clean towels,” said Kate Elks, Brooklinen director. “Brooklinen's bath offerings, including bath towels and sheets, hand towels, and washcloths, only differ in size, so you can care for them all the same way.”
“If you're taking care of someone who's ill or you're sick yourself, steam from a steamer or an iron is enough to sanitize sheets,” Richardson says.
Is it okay to change your bed sheets once a month? While your specific sheet changing habits might vary a little bit depending on your lifestyle, your body, and your preferences, most experts agree you should change your sheets every week or every two weeks.
But still, the slight majority, 54%, do not wash their sheets often enough — only a few times per month or less. Of the 523 people surveyed, about 30% said that they wash their bed sheets a few times per month; and 22% said they wash them once a month or less.
Men are more likely to wait longer between sheet changes than women (29.6 days vs. 19.4 days). On average, single people go 37 days before changing their sheets, while those in relationships go 21.8 days, and married couples go 19.9 days.
Typically, hotels wash their bedding once every week including various kinds of comforters, sheets, and pillows. However, they often swap out the pillowcases and linens between the guests. It's a common practice that the hotel comforters are rarely automatically changed – unless a guest requests it.
Sitting or lying down for too long increases your risk of chronic health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Too much sitting can also be bad for your mental health. Being active is not as hard as you think. There are lots of simple ways to include some physical activity in your day.
Moreover, the inactivity associated with staying in bed for long hours increases the risk of damaging the veins (especially those of the pelvis and legs) and developing blood clots. This situation can also lead to a deadly pulmonary embolism condition if the clot breaks away and enters the lungs.
Common causes of tiredness and fatigue include: not getting enough sleep or finding it hard to get to sleep (insomnia) an unhealthy lifestyle (such as having an unhealthy diet and not getting much exercise) stress, depression and dealing with life challenges, such as bereavement or looking after a new baby.