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Everyone knows that they are supposed to get around 8 hours of sleep per night. Even if you are one of the millions who don’t get nearly enough sleep, the chances are that you are spending 5-8 hours in your bed each night. For most people, that means it is the individual location where they spend the most time in their lives.
This also means that it is where the filth from your body can accumulate the quickest.
Phillip Tierno is a biologist in New York, and he recently spoke with Business Insider, talking about the importance of changing your bedding regularly and washing it properly. If you don’t, he describes the results as being a “botanical park” of bacteria, fungi, and other things that you don’t want in bed with you.
While it seems like you are just lying down in bed while sleeping, you are actually sweating, shedding skin cells, losing hair, and more. That all builds up in and on your bedding, making it quite gross.
In addition, if you are doing anything other than sleeping in your bed, that introduces a whole host of other contaminants to the picture. If you are one of the millions who sleep without clothes, your bed gets even dirtier even more quickly.
And you don’t even want to think about what happens if you have pets who sleep in bed with you.
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Without getting too graphic, your bed can be a truly disgusting place to lay your head for hours each night. The only way to combat the filth is to properly wash your bedding on a very regular basis. The general recommendation is to wash your sheets (and pillowcases!) once a week. If you are someone who sweats a lot or has other factors (like pets, sleeping without clothes, sleeping with a partner, or sweating a lot), washing them more often may be warranted. Those who don’t have any of those ‘risk factors’ may be able to get away with washing their bedding just once every two weeks.
Unfortunately, most people don’t follow this guidance. Research done by YouGov in the UK found that about 28% of people claim to wash their bedding weekly. 36% say they wash it every two weeks. About 10% say they do it around once a month.
If you look at the biggest offenders, it is single men (no surprise there), where about 45% of them go for as long as 4 months between washes.
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No matter where you fall on that spectrum, it is important to remember that just tossing your sheets in the washer isn’t enough. You need to use a good detergent, and most importantly, wash using either the warm or hot water setting. This will help to remove the oils, sweat, and other contaminants while also killing any bacteria that has taken up residence in your sheets.
If you are one of the many people who don’t wash their sheets regularly, maybe today is a good time to make a change. Washing your sheets weekly is important for your health.