While jumping into fresh bedding is often regarded as one of life’s simple pleasures, how often should you wash your sheets from a hygienic perspective?
Considering that us humans spend around one third of our life asleep, it should come as no surprise that our choice of bedding says a lot about us. From thread counts, colours, textures and more, our sheets, pillowcases and doonas are a chronically underappreciated contribution to our day to day lives.
Aesthetics aside, bedding can often hide some dark bacterial secrets. As we produce almost one hundred litres of sweat in our beds every year, this moisture content can foster a literal pool of fungus and bacteria in our favourite place for slumber. To avoid these types of nasties piling up, how often should you wash your sheets?
An Introduction To Bedding Hygiene
Not washing your sheets regularly exposes you to the fungi, bacteria, pollen, and animal dander that are commonly found on sheets and other bedding. In addition, other things commonly found on sheets include bodily secretions, sweat, and skin cells.
While these items alone won’t necessarily make you sick, in theory – they can. Depending on your level of skin sensitivity, these unwelcome guests could also trigger eczema or cause contact dermatitis.
A recent survey conducted on Instagram by The Organised Housewife revealed that 25% of respondents washed their sheets once a week, 25% once a fortnight, a whopping 40% once a month, and a surprising 10% who lasted over a month or more between washes.
Although there have been countless studies, determining the answer to how often you should wash sheets is usually quite divisive. Collectively, industry experts tend to agree that sheets should be washed and changed at least once a fortnight.
If you’re on the fence about such a commitment, it’s worth paying attention to the science. A recent study found that even after a week of washing, the average pillowcase still has over 170000% the number of bacteria as a toilet seat. Per square inch, they contain 24.90% bacilli, 40.76% gram negative rods, 11.58% gram positive cocci, and 22.75% gram positive rods.
If more people were aware of these nauseating numbers, perhaps washing and changing sheets more regularly would be on the rise. However, how often you should wash your sheets may change if your household has links to any of the following –
- You have allergies or asthma and are sensitive to dust
- You have a lesion that makes contact with your sheets or pillows
- You have recently been sick with a virus
- You sweat excessively
- Your pet sleeps in your bed
- You eat in bed
- You go to bed without showering
- You sleep in the nude
In addition, homeowners can improve the longevity of their sheets between wash cycles by showering before bed, avoiding naps between sweaty activities, removing any makeup prior to sleeping, avoiding lotions or creams, not having a midnight snack in bed and keeping pets off the sheets.
Considering that more Australians than ever before are paying careful attention to their overall health, it makes sense that the same philosophy would apply to our home environments as well. Changing sheets regularly does have its fair share of perks, but is often regarded as just another chore to a long list of household cleaning requirements. As such, it should come as no surprise that a growing number of families are opting to get their time back by outsourcing these types of responsibilities.
Enlisting The Help Of A Cleaning Angel
Goodwings is slowly revolutionising the domestic cleaning industry one household at a time. Serving the Greater Brisbane and Gold Coast regions, Anita and her team of “cleaning angels” at Goodwings provide families and busy professionals with the opportunity to outsource their home’s cleaning requirements, but in a safe, eco friendly and sustainable manner.
Offering four to six hour cleaning packages, the services provided by Goodwings include bed linen changes, washing, dishwashing liquid, hand soap, toilet paper and more” and topping up everyday household goods like washing powder, shampoos, toilet paper and more. The key point of difference with using a provider like Goodwings is that we don’t introduce any chemicals to the property, and instead operate with a holistic approach through only using sustainable and non-toxic cleaning products.
Ultimately, a healthy lifestyle is not just about how we look after our physical bodies, but how we maintain our homes and living environment as well. To find out more about the services on offer with us at Goodwings, get in touch to discuss how we can provide your household with world class cleaning solutions.
