Like a lot of people, I struggle to get enough sleep. After dealing with the normal difficulties of finding time to sleep, I really don't want my mattress to fail me by being dirty, dusty, or overly worn. There are a few steps you can take to provide routine care for your mattress, or clean a mattress that has been soiled. I hope these tips will help you sleep better at night.
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You should buy another after it was used for 5 years if you want it to be tight. Or try to do a service every year so it is not full of dust. Dont jump, and tell your kids not to. Dont allow anyone to walk on it. And try to clean it every week.
Hi Sarah,
I uses a company called Home Enviro Health Specialists. The only serve the NY NJ area but the service and mattress sanitation was outstanding! I am sleeping so much better.. Just like the person said above why have a mattress full of garbage?
Laura
Dust mites can be a serious problem to your health. Did you know these disgusting bugs are actually apart of the arachnid family? This is the same family as spiders and scorpions! Their allergenic by-products are produced from their saliva, feces, sticky egg secretions, and decaying body parts. Dust mites and indoor allergens cause air pollution. The EPA has deemed indoor air pollution as America’s number one health concern!
•The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology suggest that almost half of all illnesses may be the result of unhealthy mattresses.
•The weight of the average mattress doubles after ten years due to dust mite infestation! That’s 10% in weight each year.
•Exposure to dust mites in the first two years of a baby’s life can trigger a lifelong allergy or even asthma. It can also happen in younger children.
•Mattresses contain the highest concentration of allergens in the home, including molds, bacteria, viruses, and dust mites
•Dust mites live in 99% of all homes.
•Dust mites flourish in warm, humid environments.
•Your bed is the perfect environment for dust mites; they love to burrow into fabric and feast on your dead and decaying skin cells. (Humans shed two to three pounds of skin a year…plenty of food for tiny dust mites).
•Dust mite populations increase rapidly; each egg-laying female can increase the population by 25 or 30 new mites per week. Depending on its age, your mattress may house between one million and ten million dust mites.
•Tossing and turning in bed causes allergens to become airborne and you’re breathing in these allergens every night!
•The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that Asthma is the leading chronic illness of children in the United States, and is the most major cause of school absenteeism for a chronic illness.
•Asthma can be a very serious illness and kills over 5,600 people a year.
•According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air in your home may be 5 to 100 times more polluted than the air outside!
•Around 50% of all illnesses are either caused, or aggravated by polluted indoor air (American College of Allergists).
•Dust mites have been medically proven to be the main trigger to reactions causing asthma, bronchitis, rhinitis, eczema, and more.
•We shed 10,000 million scales of bacteria laden skin each day, most end up in our mattresses.
•Dust mites produce 200 times it’s body weight in excrement during their normal life span.
•A 61% increase in asthma rate, from 1982 to 1994, was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Environmental Protection Agency, Achooallergy.com.
You have to get a dustmite cover for your mattress and boxspring. I forgot to get one for my 6 yr old and that’s probably why he’s been sick a lot since we got his new mattress. And also why I’m now searching the web to find out how to clean one!
I know what you mean. It can be difficult to fall asleep knowing that you have a dirty mattress. Especially when you know how many thousands of dust mites there can be!
See for yourself:
There is a whole microscopic world out there and it has existed since the beginning of time. They are so small that our senses can’t pick them up. So while talking about, feces, sticky egg secretions, and decaying body parts may be effectie in grossing someone out, it is also is counter productive (unless you are trying to sell something). Sorry to burst your bubble.
Bed covers DO NOT WORK!!! They actually create the perfect environment for those things to grow and breed, by locking in moisture and warmth. They’ve also been found to be a contributing factor of mold and bacteria growth.
Ditto to Joel
You said it, Joel. How about the medical community also focus a little bit more on discovering actual *cures* to diseases than supposedly preventative measures, for a change.
No one of these comments explains how to clean a bed……..just sayin!
No one wants to realistically replace thier mattress every 5 years when most companies tell you every 10 years is fine, and obviously you don’t need to lecture us on the terrible influences of dust mites……we googled “How to clean a mattress.” I think we’re all aware that our mattresses are dirty and need to be cleaned.
Can someone just tell us how they clean thier mattresses so we can try your approach?
sprinkle baking soda over the mattress and leave it on for a few hours or longer then vacuum it off. It draws dust, mites, etc. from the mattress to the surface. Also leaving it in the hot sun for a few hours would help, if possible.