How Often Should You Change Your Bed Sheets?
There’s nothing quite like the joy that comes from climbing into a bed with freshly changed sheets. It is utter heaven. How often you get to experience that though, all depends on how often you change your bed sheets. And that right there is the million dollar question.
Based on 8 being the recommended number of hours of sleep we should have each night, that means the average adult gets approximately 56 hours a week, 240 hours a month, 2880 a year, and roughly 229,961 hours during our lifetime. That’s a third of our life. Yep, we spend a third of our lives asleep. And that’s not counting the times we spend lying in on a Sunday morning eating breakfast in bed with the papers, the times we’re ill, or the times we fancy a quickie after work. Our beds get a lot of action!
But back to that question… In this article we’re going to discover how often you should change your bed sheets and perhaps more importantly, why.
Are You Regularly Changing Your Bed Sheets?
In a survey conducted by You Gov, they asked 2,250 UK adults how often they change their bed sheets. The results were mixed: 35% said they changed their sheets every fortnight; 33% every week; 32% fell into the longer than 2 weeks category, and 3% said they changed their sheets more often than once a week.
Interestingly, there was a big difference between how often single men change their sheets versus single women. Almost half of the single men confessed to only changing their bed sheets every four months or so, whereas 62% of the single women surveyed were a much more hygienic once a fortnight. And the top reasons given for not changing them more regularly included:
- Forgetting
- Not being bothered
- Having no other clean bedding
- Not thinking they need changing.
It seems there is no definitive answer as to how often you should be changing your bed sheets. And there are many different factors that can affect how regularly they need cleaning. That being said, if you’re one of the small percentage of people who wait weeks or even months before refreshing your sheets, you might want to read on, as I have a feeling it might give you a different perspective on things.
Reasons You Should Change Your Bed Sheets Regularly
On the surface they look clean, but the reality is our bed sheets are harbouring all kinds of nasty things. Just check this lot out:
- Sweat – We all sweat when we sleep and this sweat gets soaked into our bed sheets, where it builds up and starts to smell pretty rank. And these sweat levels are even worse in the hotter temperatures of the summer months, if someone has a fever, or if a woman is experiencing night sweats as part of the menopause.
- Body Fluids – As well as sweat, us humans emit all kinds of other yucky fluids from our bodies. And they are soaking right into our bed sheets, leaving stains and nasty smells.
- Dead Skin Cells – We lose between 30-40,000 skin cells every minute and this doesn’t stop when we’re asleep. At night time however, the only place for this dead skin to go is on your sheets. Which perhaps in itself isn’t that much of a concern to you, until you hear that…
- Mites – The build up of dead skin cells and sweat creates the perfect breeding and feeding ground for mites. Dust mites are teeny, tiny, microscopic creatures that live off of dead skin cells and reproduce at a prolific rate. We have literally tonnes of them, like hundreds and thousands, living in our beds, sheets, pillows and mattresses. You won’t be able to see them, but trust me they’re there. They don’t bite or cause you any massive harm, but they can cause skin rashes and irritation. And it’s not just the mites you’re sharing a bad with, you’re also sharing it with their dead carcasses and faecal matter too!
- Pet Hair – Obviously this is only the case if you own a pet and if you let your pet on the bed, but if you do, your pet will be sharing not just its fur with you, but also its muddy paws and any other mess it’s picked up in the day.
- Food – If you love a bit of late night snacking, or morning breakfasts in bed, you can guarantee there will be some crumbs in that bed of yours too.
Hygiene is the biggest reason for changing our bedding regularly. We look after our hygiene needs during our waking hours, so why on earth would we not do the same while we’re asleep!?! Clean sheets contribute to getting a better night’s sleep and reduce the risks of allergies, asthma, and skin breakouts.
For me, it’s a no brainer. The sheets and bedding get changed every Monday no matter what. It is part of my weekly routine and therefore is something I never forget. So, that feeling of joy that comes from slipping into a freshly made bed? That joy is mine for the taking every Monday night.
How Often Do You Change Your Bed Sheets?
It’s confession time!
I would love to know how often you change your bed sheets. Let me know in the comments section below whether you change them:
- Every day
- Every few days
- Every week
- Every fortnight
- Every month
- Every few months
- When you remember.
