Reasons not to make your bed

From the dawn of time, mothers have been forcing children to make their beds, and children have whined and complained and asked WHY they need to make something they’re going to unmake in a few hours. It turns out that question might have been the one we should have been asking before we insisted that beds need be tidied up every morning because there seems to be a health risk bigger than your mom’s heart attack for not making it in making your bed! Leaving your bed unmade could actually make you, and your bed healthier and happier! If you are one of those people who likes to climb into a crisply made bed, there are times when making your bed is best, and times when it isn’t. Directly after waking up is the worst time, and here’s why:

Sweat and shed hair gets trapped under duvets:

During the night a human can sweat up to a litre of liquid. This sweat goes into your bedding, seeps through to your mattress, and some of it is evaporated. This doesn’t all happen at the same time, of course, so the sweat lingers in your mattress and if trapped there, will breed bacteria. When you make your bed in the morning, you effectively trap the moisture in your bed, between the sheets as well as in the mattress itself.

Leaving your bed unmade allows the bedding to air out and dry out, and making it a much more hostile environment for dust mites. Dust mites are tiny parasites that feed on skin flakes, hair follicles and need a moist environment. Without a moist habitat, dust mites actually dehydrate and die, so airing out your bedding is an effective way to get rid of them.

Why should you care about dust mites?

Basically, dust mites love to feed on whatever you shed, from dead skin, to hairs, to sweat, to whatever else. They then produce your waste as waste, and you breathe their feaces in, which is totally full of allergens. Dust mites can cause or worsen asthma, impede your breathing while you sleep, and generally make your life miserable. Making their life more pleasant shouldn’t be something you encourage.

However, having your bed lying in a crumpled heap doesn’t allow it either, so to be a non-bed making rebel, you’d have to unmake your bed properly. This would involve pulling your sheets to the end of the bed and letting them hang openly.

The quality of your bedding makes a huge difference:

Speaking of sheets, the quality of your sheet is a big part of how dust mite proof your bed is. The higher the quality of your sheet, the more effective it will be at wicking away the sweat from your body and allowing it to evaporate.

Thread count matters:

The quality of a sheet is measured, among other things, by its thread count. Thread count is how many threads are woven into the weave of the sheet. The more there are, the stronger, more durable and more comfortable the sheet will be. Sheets with a lower thread count generally have a polyester mix, making them much less breathable that cotton sheets, and that lack of breathability is what traps the moisture in your bedding. The highest quality thread count sheets are 500, but 300 thread count sheets are more affordable and are very comfortable and breathable. Those with lower thread count sheets should make airing out their bedding daily a high priority. Once your bed has aired for a couple hours, you can make it again. The benefit is that your bed will feel fresher and smell better too.

Gets into your mattress and pillow too:

Don’t forget your mattress and pillow while thinking about your sheets either. The sweat doesn’t just stick around your in sheets, it sinks through to settle into your mattress too, and your head sweats as much as your body does, and most of that goes straight into your pillow. Any pillow over 3 years old is bacteria infested. Investing in a pillow and mattress protector – a small price to keep using your stuff – is really a worthwhile idea.

Your mattress slowly loses its ability to support you and your back over time, but it loses its ability to provide you with quality sleep the moment it becomes a bed bug and dust mite hotel. To keep your mattress the sleep sanctuary it should be, wrap it in a mattress protector, which will kill those inside and keep others from getting in. However, if your mattress is more than 10 years old, its coils and foams have broken down and can no longer be giving you the support you need.

When buying a new bed, you need to decide between foam beds and spring beds. Foam beds have no coil units in them, only foam, but that doesn’t make them low class beds. Quite the opposite in fact, as many people are coming to realize that foams beds are durable, comfortable and cheaper than springs. However spring beds are softer and have a different feel to foam beds that many people enjoy, so it’s purely a personal preference issue. Once you know that your preference is for a foam or coil mattress, you should also know whether you want a firm or softer mattress. Soft mattresses are generally spring mattresses, whereas firm are made from foam.

At The Mattress Warehouse we have foam mattresses from Cloud Nine, Genessi, and Universe bedding, and spring mattresses from Serta, Sealy, GreenCoil, Rest Assured and others! We also sell memory foam and latex pillows, as well as the highest quality sheets and other linen. Call us today on 0861 007 000 today!