How Often Should You Change Your Sheets?

When it comes to rest, we always want to ensure we have the best night's sleep. Whether it be through buying comfortable mattresses, listening to sleep music, or picking bedsheets, we tend to choose what we think will help us snooze better. Even then, we might not wake up feeling refreshed or well-rested. Well, it might be time to consider that sometimes our discomfort during sleep comes from dirty sheets. 

That’s right—making your bed and washing your sheets may be annoying tasks, but they are ones we should be doing more regularly. Not washing your bed sheets can lead to discomforts and dangers if you have skin and nose sensitivities, among other slightly scarier consequences [1]. So to avoid these troubles, we must consider: how often should we be washing our bed sheets? 

Why Should I Wash My Sheets?

You might feel the need to wash your sheets for common reasons, such as sweating, drooling, or eating in bed. However, other factors might cause you to consider if re-making your bed is as annoying of a task as you think. Some factors that come into play with dirty sheets include:

• Dirt
• Dead skin cells
• Common household non-living allergens
• Pollen
• Skin irritators
• Undesirable buildup

We often dismiss the details we cannot see, but these specific factors could lead to negative effects on our well-being. And yes, you read “dust mites” correctly. Dust mites can cause symptoms such as allergies, sneezing, coughing, itchy and watery eyes, and facial pain [3] These creatures survive solely on the dead skin cells we shed in bed, bacteria, and pet dander, so cleaning our bed sheets often will help these creatures stay off [4]. 

Additionally, as the seasons heighten our allergies, we might bring pollen into our homes and tuck them into bed with us. Not only should we wash our bed sheets regularly, but also adopt new habits to keep them as clean as possible, such as showering before bed to avoid bringing the outside world inside. 

Bacteria is a direct result of avoiding washing your bed sheets for too long. After not washing your bed sheets for more than three weeks, the buildup of bacteria and fungi is greater than the bacteria buildup of a toilet seat [2]. Also, our sweat contains loads of bacteria, fungi, and yeast,  possibly causing infections and fungal growth in our own bed sheets [5]. 

Sleep Habits

You should reconsider several sleeping habits if you do not want to share your bed with dust mites and bacteria:

• Pets: as much as it hurts to kick them off the bed, sleeping with our pets is a habit we should not continue. Pets bring outside bacteria and organisms into our bed, causing even more negative consequences on our health and sleep, such as dermatitis [6].
• Eating: leaving crumbs in bed might not bother you at first, but as bed sheets go unwashed for several weeks, creepy crawlers will show up in your bed, bringing dirt along with them. 

How Often Should You Change Your Sheets?

After learning about the negative effects of dirty sheets, the question still remains: how often should you change your sheets? 

A YouGov survey reports men wash their bedding every four months, and over half of women wash their sheets every two weeks [7]. Although this might shock you, we recommend you wash your bed sheets at least once a week. Your bed should be as clean as possible in order to optimize sleep and comfort. 

Cosy House Collection offers ultra-soft, breathable Luxury Bed Sheets to help you get a better night's sleep. Threaded to perfection, our blissfully soft bamboo viscose blend is temperature regulating, keeping you feeling fresh and comfortable throughout the night.

Additionally, bamboo viscose stays cleaner for longer between washes. They may ward off common household non-living allergens so you can enjoy better skin and better (cleaner) sleep.

Check us out to see which sheets are best for you at Cosy House Collection. 

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Sources

1. Noyed, D. (2022, March 11). How often should you wash your sheets? Sleep Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedding-information/how-often-should-you-wash-your-sheets 

2. (PDF) fungal contamination of bedding - researchgate.net. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7406800_Fungal_contamination_of_bedding  

3. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, July 31). Dust mite allergy. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dust-mites/symptoms-causes/syc-20352173  

4. Portnoy, J., Miller, J. D., Williams, P. B., Chew, G. L., Miller, J. D., Zaitoun, F., Phipatanakul, W., Kennedy, K., Barnes, C., Grimes, C., Larenas-Linnemann, D., Sublett, J., Bernstein, D., Blessing-Moore, J., Khan, D., Lang, D., Nicklas, R., Oppenheimer, J., Randolph, C., … Practice Parameter Workgroup. (2013, December). Environmental assessment and exposure control of dust mites: A practice parameter. Annals of allergy, asthma & immunology : official publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5156485/  

5. Venereology, D. of D. and, Mahajan, R., & Sahoo, A. K. (n.d.). Management of tinea corporis, tinea cruris, and tinea... : Indian Dermatology Online Journal. LWW. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/idoj/Fulltext/2016/07020/Management_of_tinea_corporis,_tinea_cruris,_and.2.aspx  

6. Nadolpho. (2022, April 13). Eczema: Causes, symptoms & treatment. ACAAI Public Website. Retrieved from https://acaai.org/allergies/allergic-conditions/skin-allergy/eczema/  

7. Dahlgreen, W. (2014, August 27). The Great Sheet Washing Divide: Which Group are you in? YouGov. Retrieved from https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/08/27/5-weeks-when-unwashed-bedsheets-become-disgusting