Wash Your Bedding One of the best ways to get rid of dust mites is to wash all your bedding—including sheets, blankets, pillowcases, and duvet covers—on a hot cycle of at least 130 degrees. 1 If you are unable to wash your bedding in hot water, place them in the dryer for 15 minutes at 130 degrees.
Results: Washing clothing and bedding in water alone, detergent, or detergent plus bleach removed 60% to 83% of the live mites. Washing removed more mites from some items than from others.
Just like hot temperatures, freezing cold temperatures also kill dust mites. For more delicate fabrics or items that cannot be washed (such as silk or lace) freeze them. Place the items in a clear plastic bag and put them in the freezer for 24 hours. This will kill the dust mites completely.
Microscopic dust mites can live for up to 90 days and can be found in all sorts of pillows, no matter what material they're made from, so the best course of action is to ensure your bedding is regularly aired and cleaned.
Wash bedding weekly.
Wash all sheets, blankets, pillowcases and bedcovers in hot water that is at least 130 F (54.4 C) to kill dust mites and remove allergens. If bedding can't be washed hot, put the items in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at a temperature above 130 F (54.4 C) to kill the mites.
Symptoms of dust mite allergy include sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose, and nasal congestion. If you have asthma, dust mites can cause you to wheeze more and need more asthma medicine. You may have more asthma symptoms at night, when you are lying in a bed infested with dust mites.
Dust mites occur naturally and can appear in nearly all homes. Humidity is the most important factor in determining whether a house has high levels of dust mites. This is because dust mites do not drink water like we do; they absorb moisture from the air.
Essential oils contain compounds that repel or kill insects, including dust mites. The best essential oils for getting rid of dust mites are clove, rosemary, and eucalyptus oil. Add 20 drops of oil to four ounces of witch hazel, and spray your mattress, couch, drapes, and other dust mite hangouts.
Dust mites live and multiply easily in warm, humid places. They prefer temperatures at or above 70 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity of 75 to 80 percent. They die when the humidity falls below 50 percent.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) recommends that you replace your pillow every two years or sooner. This is because pillows can get pretty gross. Pillows can contain allergens like dust mites, pet dander, and even mold once they reach the end of their lifespan.
Dust mites do not bite you or carry diseases, but their presence in your home, or even worse the bed where you sleep each night, can cause severe allergy issues including: Nasal congestion. Coughing or itchy throat.
Although they may “hitchhike” on clothing, dust mites do not live on people. They feed primarily on dander, flakes of dead skin that fall from people and animals. Upholstered furniture, pillows and mattresses typically harbor more dust mites than carpeting.
A general rule of thumb is that hot water—130 degrees Fahrenheit or higher—kills dust mites*.
Allergen levels are at their highest between May and October, the peak breeding season of house dust mites. Most of the mites die during the winter, but the allergen-containing dust is stirred up by heating systems. This often causes the symptoms experienced by affected patients year-round to worsen during the winter.
Particularly with cold or warm-water washing, many mites die by drowning or are simply washed out of the substrate while still alive. In contrast, many newer washing machines are water-conserving front-loaders, in which the item is repeatedly wetted and spun, without it staying submerged in water.
Predators. The predators of dust mites are other allergenic mites (Cheyletiella), silverfish and pseudoscorpions.
Lavender was the second most effective, and lemon oil the least, but still effective. STUDY RESULTS: Lemon Oil – 61% of the dust mites were immobile after 30 minutes and 80% were dead after 2 hours. Lavender Oil – 86% were immobilized after 30 minutes and 87% were dead after 2 hours.
They thrive in pillows, mattresses, box springs, blankets, rugs and carpets, "stuffed animals" and upholstered (cloth) furniture such as couches. They also live in dusty areas like furnace ducts. They are so tiny that they are hard to see without a microscope. Dust mites feed on organic matter such as flakes of skin.
Dust mite allergies usually cause milder symptoms than hay fever (a pollen allergy) does. But they occur all year round, whereas hay fever is seasonal. The symptoms are typically worse at night and in the morning because dust mites tend to live in mattresses, pillows and bedding.
The bedroom is home to a slew of allergens including dust mites, pet dander, chemicals, dust, and molds. Here you may spend 6-8 hours a day sleeping, getting ready for the day, or simply relaxing—which means you have a longer exposure to microscopic critters and particles that cause allergies and allergy-like symptoms.
Common dust mite allergy symptoms include sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes and itchy skin at night with the allergy often associated with asthma or eczema. For sufferers, the one place where they are most susceptible is the bed – as this is a favourite haunt of the dust mite.
Ohio State University concluded in its research that 10% of the weight of a pillow that is two-years-old consists of dead bed mites and their droppings. A new pillow weighs between 3 to 5 pounds on average; however, the accumulation of bed mites can increase the weight by 1 lb.