It’s something that’s drilled into us from a very young age but it turns out that making your bed every day could be bad for your health.
In news that will be music to the ears of lazy people all over the globe, research has suggested that leaving your bed unmade regularly can actually do wonders for your health.
If you’re scratching your head why, there’s actually a perfectly good explanation.
A number of both international and local news outlets have reported that an unmade bed is the key to killing the creepy-crawlies that lurk in our beds.
Research by the Kingston University of London has found that while it may look tidier to make your bed of a morning, you could actually be providing a hotspot for unhealthy mites.
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“The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites,” Dr Stephen Pretlove from Kingston University’s School of Architecture explained.
“House dust mites feed on scales of human skin so they love to share out beds.
“The allergens they produce are easily inhaled during sleep and are a major cause of illnesses such as asthma.”
According to the study, one of the quickest and most effective ways of killing the critters is to stop making your bed.
Dr Pretlove continued: “We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using 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.”
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Before ditching your cleaning regime for good, there are some health professionals who disagree with the study.
According to Today US, Professor Andrew Wardlaw of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology encouraged people not to be quick to leave their beds unmade.
He suggested that most homes are humid enough that the tiny insects would probably still be able to survive – even if a bed was left unmade.
“I find it hard to believe that simply not making your bed would have any impact on the overall humidity,” he said.