Dead skin cells, sweat, saliva, and more can turn your comfy bed into a petri dish for germs to grow. For instance, lab tests found that swabs from pillowcases unwashed for a week harbored 17,000 times more colonies of bacteria than samples taken from a toilet seat.
More often than you think. Bed sheets can be filled with bacteria and other germs.
Yeast infections
Your bed may be a perfect breeding ground for such yeasts, and so again the sheets need to be washed regularly and at a hot temperature.
Use the hottest wash temperature setting for best disinfecting results. Try using one (or all) of these household products for a strong and effective sanitation: Bleach – Add ½ cup once the wash cycle has started. You should use color-safe bleach for any dyed fabrics, and chlorine bleach for white bedding.
You may be thinking, can you get bed bugs from not washing your sheets? No—bed bugs have absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness levels. However, washing your sheets regularly gives you the opportunity to look for and remove any possible bed bug infestations.
Looking for Signs of Bed Bugs
Rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets or mattresses caused by bed bugs being crushed. Dark spots (about this size: •), which are bed bug excrement and may bleed on the fabric like a marker would.
Bed bugs are not a sign of a dirty home or poor personal hygiene. Bed bugs are hitchhikers - they travel to new places by hiding in furniture, suitcases, or other objects that get moved around.
Most people should wash their sheets once per week. If you don't sleep on your mattress every day, you may be able to stretch this to once every two weeks or so. Some people should wash their sheets even more often than once a week.
You can sanitize and disinfect your mattress using natural household cleaners or a commercial spray meant to disinfect sweat stains and kill germs. It's best to avoid sprays and solutions that contain bleach as this can damage the mattress fibers. You can also spray an enzyme cleaner on the mattress.
Each night, your body sheds around 15 million skin cells, which build up if you don't wash your sheets often. You're essentially providing food for thousands of dust mites. This is bad news for the some 20 million Americans who are allergic to proteins produced by dust mites and their feces.
Eradicil is a non-biological liquid laundry sanitiser and detergent that contains three disinfectants and antifungals.
Here are three ways a dirty bed could harm your health: Staphylococcus aureus is commonly found on human skin, but if this bacteria enters the body may develop illnesses such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and bacteria in the bloodstream.
“Infrequent cleaning of sheets and pillowcases allows the fluids to seep into the pillows and mattresses, and those are much more difficult to clean than tossing sheets in the washer,” she told ATTN. Leaving your bedsheets unchanged can result in sweat and dirt seeping into your pillows and mattress.
Ackerley says that the dust mites increase a person's risk of getting a cold or suffering from allergies. But that's not all; our bed sheets can also harbor bacteria that causes the flu or food poisoning. She calls this "Sick Bed Syndrome," and told the Daily Mail that most people don't realize it's happening to them.
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.
If you're not able to access a washer and dryer and want to sanitize your sheets, pillow cases, or blankets—especially if someone sick is using them—all you need is some steam. (Assuming the fabric doesn't have any major stains, since steaming can set-in the stain.)
Add one cup of distilled white vinegar to the rinse cycle when you want to sanitize a load of laundry. The white vinegar kills bacteria, deodorizes your laundry, softens fabrics, and even helps maintain bright colors.
“This amazingly versatile spray can be used on all hard surfaces (such as toilets, bins and sinks), soft surfaces (such as sofas and mattresses), and leaves a fresh fragrance in the air.
Not washing your sheets regularly exposes you to the fungi, bacteria, pollen, and animal dander that are commonly found on sheets and other bedding. Other things found on sheets include bodily secretions, sweat, and skin cells.
The Cleaning Institute recommends washing bath towels after three uses. If you shower every day, that means laundry almost twice a week. Regular laundry is sufficient to clean towels and remove any germs that are starting to accumulate.
Sheets are usually changed between guests, and sometimes state law requires it, but there's no guarantee that they will be. As for bedspreads, forget it. As countless hidden-camera investigative TV programs have confirmed, they aren't washed regularly.
Non-chemical control tools and tactics like vacuuming are important components of effective bed bug control. Vacuuming alone cannot eliminate bed bugs (except possibly in a very limited new infestation), and vacuuming is typically used in conjunction with insecticide treatment and other non-chemical controls.
How can bed bugs get into my home? They can come from other infested areas or from used furniture. They can hitch a ride in luggage, purses, backpacks, or other items placed on soft or upholstered surfaces. They can travel between rooms in multi-unit buildings, such as apartment complexes and hotels.