Source: Radio New Zealand
Up to 300ml of sweat goes onto our sheets every night, along with the skin cells we shed, says a microbiologist.
“And it doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside, you will still sweat. And don’t forget the dead skin cells that you shed as well, that the house dust mites will then come along and happily eat,” Primrose Freestone professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester told RNZ’s Sunday Mornings .
For this reason, she is an advocate of the morning shower.
Washing cotton sheets at 60 degrees centigrade will sanitise them.
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That means you’re going to wake up less clean than you were when you went to bed, she says.
“You might have a bit of a BO as well, because you will sweat during the night. And the skin bacteria that you’ve got on you and also that are in your bed, they will eat it and produce some malodours.
“And then you put your clothes on, and so you’re going out less fresh than you actually were the night before.”
A morning shower, she says, will wash away any sweat and skin bacteria acquired during the night.
“You actually then get into your morning clothes a lot fresher, and you stay fresher than you would have done for an evening shower.”
She recommends washing sheets once a week, and during the summer every three or four days.
“During warm weather you sweat more, and you deposit more dead skin cells, and your bed starts becoming more of a kind of microscopic eco-forest.”
People with asthma can have attacks triggered by mites that can accumulate in beds, she says
“It’s not so much the mites themselves, it’s their waste products, they house mite poo.”
Pillows are a favourite haunt for these mites, she says.
“You do need good hygiene just to keep the house dust mites down. And if you want to get rid of any dust mites in your pillow, if you can wash it, brilliant, at least at 60 degrees.
“Alternatively, leave it for a day or so in a deep freeze, and that will kill them off as well.”
Cold washing will only work if you use detergent disinfectant, she says.
“But if you really want to sanitise your sheets, if they’re cotton, they will survive 60 degrees quite happily. And that 60 degrees centigrade is a key temperature because it kills off most microorganisms. What lives on your skin are typically happy to live at 30 to 37 degrees.”
Ironing sheets might seem like an unnecessary chore, but it is also an effective way to sanitise, she says.
“Ironing sheets kills off absolutely everything on it, particularly if you have a hot iron and it steams. I mean, that’s one way of actually sanitizing pretty much anything.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand