How often should the bed sheets be changed? Experts give their opinions
Good habits, but also our noses, tell us that we can't wait more than a week before changing the sheets. But what is the recommended frequency? The answer is different for different people and depends on many factors, for example, how many hours we spend in bed each night, if we tend to sweat, how often we wash ourselves (including our hair), etc. And, of course, the weather conditions can also have a determining impact.
Notwithstanding these variable factors, there are what one might call a few "golden rules". Read on to find out more:
Let's start with the baseline: the average frequency for changing and washing the sheets is once a week. Done more often, it's even better, although it's not strictly necessary - unless, of course, we were forced to do it due to some unforeseen mishap.
On average, most people follow this rule, but its validity has also been scientifically proven: a study conducted in 2017 on thousands of American families, revealed that every night we are in contact with a large amount of allergens from mites that nestle in the sheets. And over 90% of the subjects analyzed were exposed to at least 3 of those allergens.
This means that even if we don't develop allergies, we can still exhibit reactions comparable to the symptoms of an allergy, such as sneezing or an urge to sniff.
In addition to mites, a whole series of other materials accumulate between the sheets which are not good to stay in contact with for too long: pet hair (or the dandruff from their fur), pollen, dust, fluff, mite feces, dead skin, etc. Not to mention the chemicals used to make the sheets.
As for the maximum time that should pass between one change and another, the upper limit is once every two weeks - but no more than this!
