The average person spends between 49 and 60+ hours a week sleeping. While that's plenty of time to achieve the amount of sleep our bodies require to thrive, it's also plenty of time for dust, perspiration and oils to accumulate on our bed linens.
Hygiene is important in all aspects of our daily lives. Perhaps it's even more essential than you'd expect when it comes to the quality of our bedding. Allergies, acne, asthma and other respiratory problems can be exacerbated by not regularly washing bedding. Additionally, great linen hygiene has been shown to improve health and sleep quality. However, the question remains: How often should you wash your bed linen?
Why It’s Important To Maintain Clean Linen
Repeatedly sleeping on unclean sheets may irritate your skin, but even worse, you provide dust mites with "food" from the skin shed and oils that rub off on your bedding. That's not a pleasant thought! The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences describes dust mites as tiny insects that may be found in the dust that collects on your bed, couch, carpet and drapes. The issue is that their faeces is a potent allergen, and they are known to exacerbate:
● Atopic dermatitis
● Eczema
● Asthma
● Hay fever
● Spread of fungal infection
Dust mites will multiply if you let skin flakes accumulate on your bedding, and an outbreak can be costly to contain.
Washing Frequency
The simple question of how frequently you should wash your bedding has no simple answer. While once a week is a reasonable rule of thumb, the frequency with which you should wash your linens is determined by how quickly they get dirty. Factors that influence how regularly you wash your bed linen:
● Frequency Of Use: How often you use your bed linen will determine how often you need to wash it. Those who travel often or sleep out of their homes can afford to wash their linen less frequently.
● Size Of The Linen: Larger pieces of linen will need to be washed more often than smaller pieces.
● Fabric Type: Different fabrics require different washing and cleaning methods, so the type of fabric your bed linen is made of will determine how often it needs to be washed.
● Sweat And Oils: If you live in a particularly humid area and are prone to sweating or use lots of lotions or ointments on your body, it will be necessary to wash your bed linen more frequently.
● Allergy Sufferers: If you are an allergy sufferer, you may need to wash your bed linens more regularly to ensure that allergens do not build up on the fabric.
● Temperature: Colder temperatures usually help linens stay fresher for longer. Those located in an area with high humidity will find that their bed linen retains a lot more moisture and pollutants.
● Pets: Pet fur and pet paws can pick up a lot of outside contaminants, so households with indoor pets should consider more frequent washes.
How Often Does Your Linen Need Replacement?
The durability of your bed linen is directly related to its quality. High-quality cotton sheets can last for up to five years, whereas an ordinary polyester sheet will begin to wear out in only two or three.
Indicators that your current set of sheets needs replacement include:
● Pilling
● Ripping
● Thinning
● Stretching
The chemicals and dyes used to manufacture sheets can be harmful to the health of anyone who comes into contact with them, but especially those who suffer from allergies or have sensitive skin. New sheets should always be washed with fragrance-free, hypoallergenic detergent before use.
Ever Considered Using A Laundrette To Maintain Your Household Linen Hygiene?
Using a laundromat for your household linen is a great way to save time and ensure your items are washed at optimal settings to last longer.
Temperature-wise, laundromats often have higher temperature settings than what a home washer and dryer can reach, which ensures better hygiene and allergy defence for you and your family. Additionally, many laundromats use an ozone or UV light sanitation process to help keep your linens hygienic and germ-free.
The Busy Bubbles Toolkit For Optimised Linen Hygiene
Life gets busy, and maintaining a linen hygiene schedule for a household can get challenging. Even if you live on your own, keeping up with a weekly linen cleaning schedule can be tough.
We recommend:
● Stocking up on a weekly change of linen for every week in the month, plus one or two more for emergencies.
● Purchasing a designated laundry basket or bag for your linen.
● Change your bedding once a week, minimum. NB: Some households will need to change bedding more frequently depending on their circumstances.
● Establish a bi-weekly or monthly schedule for taking your household linen to your local laundromat for a hygienic clean. NB: Larger households with larger loads should establish a more regular cleaning schedule.
Bed Linen Laundry Check List:
● Sheets
● Pillows (including pillowcases)
● Cushions
● Blankets (including quilts, duvets, and comforters)
● Mattress pads & protectors
● Throws
● Stuffed animals
Let Us Automate Your Bed Linen Laundry Routine
Take the hassle out of bed linen laundry day with The Busy Bubbles Laundrette! With our 100% contactless drop-off & pickup service, you can slot your bedding and linen laundry into your busy schedule with ease. Our service runs Monday to Friday, and laundry dropped in the locker by 8 a.m. will be available for pickup anytime after 4 p.m. the same day. You'll be notified by SMS as soon as your clean laundry is returned to the locker.
[CTA] Ready to give your bed linen the deep clean it deserves? Visit Busy Bubbles launderette, where you can wash all your household linen, including doonas and quilts, using our large Dexter washers. Our laundromat accepts every payment option, including Coin, Card, Apple Pay, and DexterPay. An onsite Change Machine is available to exchange notes for tokens.
Let us help you automate your bed linen laundry routine and maintain a healthier home. Schedule a bi-weekly or monthly visit and enjoy a germ-free, hygienic clean. Call (02) 4731 3336 today.