I know people who swear making their bed first thing in the morning puts them in a clear, tidy mindset for the rest of the day. I am not one of those people. Why should I make my bed when I’m just going to jump under the covers as soon as I get home? Having my sheets in a ball in the bottom corner of my bed isn’t affecting anyone to my knowledge (anymore…sorry, Mom!)
Turns out my laziness has actually benefitted me without me knowing it, and you too are about to become a messy bed person.
Like it or not, there are roughly 1.5 million microscopic insects called dust mites living between your sheets. These tiny, beetle-like creatures feed off human skin cells and require a warm, damp atmosphere to survive and thrive. Here’s a pic of the little guy.
I know…I’ve had a mysterious itch since I first read that.
Your bed happens to be the perfect breeding grounds for these eight-legged freaks since humans sweat when they sleep, up to a liter per night. So when you make your bed in the morning, you trap all your dead skin cells along with heat and moisture in, practically setting the mood for dust mites to get busy.
Here’s the part where lazy people rejoice and shout “I win!” repeatedly: If you leave the bed unmade, your sheets dry out and make it less ideal to breed.
Dr. Stephen Pretlove from Kingston University School of Architecture explains,
We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere ing small glands on the outside of their body…Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die.
Experts recommend leaving your bed unmade for the entire day, but if you really can’t stand looking at your unmade sheets, tidy up when you get home later. By then, many of those pesky mites will be dead and gone.
Unfortunately, never making your bed won’t completely save you from mites. But if you have allergies — mite poop being a common allergen (who knew?) — it’s worth trying to see if it makes a difference.
Take that, Mom!
[Story via]
[Lead image via Shutterstock]
