Story time with a very engaged audience
I think that our mattress might be the most overlooked thing in our house. Think about it: I try to get eight hours of sleep a night (my days of babies waking up every hour are over!) which means I spend a third of my life on my mattress! And that doesn't include the countless hours my lab and golden retrievers spend lounging (and shedding) on my mattress either! Between them, my husband, and our kids occasionally in bed with us, it's practically a community bed!
I try to wash our bedding every week or two (in cold water to save energy, of course), but is that enough? Maybe not.
You've heard of dust mites, right? They are little critters that are so tiny, you'd need a 10X magnifying glass to see them! Their favorite hangout spots are nice and warm and humid, but it's not the beach. We're talking about mattress and bedding we sleep on every night. And we're possibly talking millions of them.
The good news is that they don't bite! They feed on the dead skin cells from people and pets that end up on our bedding and mattresses. While these guys are super gross for sure, it's their feces (sorry) that is the problem because they can trigger allergies. If you've ever felt like your allergies act up at night, this could be why.
Back to me washing our bedding in cold water - while it does save energy, apparently it's not as effective.. The Spruce recommends washing bedding at least once a week in hot water to effectively remove allergens. Some allergy experts say not to let your pets on your bed, but I love snuggling my dogs too much. If your allergies are really bad though, you might want to consider it.
Our girl Grace's favorite place to relax
More good news: there are simple things you can do to help with allergens in your bed.
What You Can Do to Keep Your Mattress Clean:
- Wash bedding in hot water every week
- Use your vacuum's upholstery tool to help remove surface allergens every 1-3 weeks depending on your allergies and if you have pets that sleep on the bed. You can do this with your pet's beds too!
- Don't make your bed right away (you're welcome!) According to Health, leaving your linens exposed to sunlight may help dry out the moisture that dust mites love so much.
- Let us help by professionally steam cleaning your mattresses at least once a year.
Steam cleaning your mattress is a quick and effective way to fight allergens! Experts say that heat of 130 degrees is effective for killing dust mites. Our steam comes out around 260 degrees and our extraction process (aka suction) is powerful to pull allergens out, and you can sleep on them that same night! Unfortunately steam cleaning is not recommended for memory foam mattresses. Tip: have your mattresses cleaned in the morning if possible so they are ready to go by bedtime.
Conclusion:
I hope you can rest easy knowing that there are simple things that you can do to keep your mattresses fresh and help reduce allergens for your family. Do you have any tips or tricks that you use at home? We'd love to see them in the comments!
Ready for a cleaning? Give us a call and we'll find a time that works for your schedule! 248.496.1800
Written by Tina Ersig
Hi, I'm Tina! I'm the behind the scenes gal at the Greener Cleaner: answering phone calls, writing blog posts, and answering emails. I have the best job because I get to work in comfy clothes, be home with my kids when they are sick, have "office dogs" and get to talk to other moms on the phone every day!