How do you get rid of house dust mites?

Unfortunately, this is not as easy as you might think. The main breeding ground is your bed, or to be more precise, your mattress. The mites just love a nice warm, dark and damp place to live, just like the inside of your mattress.

 As we shed skin and other bodily fluids, this gives them a ready supply of food, combine all this together and you have the perfect dust mite hotel, you could say an all-inclusive 5 star resort and evicting them is going to be difficult if not impossible. To be fair, dust mites do present a direct threat to your health, to the vast majority of us they are harmless, it is just the thought of them being there, so what can we do to mitigate their presence?

So what are dust mites? Well they are spider-like pests that live in common house dust. They feed on flakes of dead skin or dander, often shed by people and pets, making carpets, curtains, upholstered furniture and even your mattresses and bedding a popular hotspot for these tiny pests. Contrary to popular belief, they can’t be seen with the naked eye, as they measure about 1/100^th of an inch in length, making them relatively harmless in small doses.

One of the best things we can do is air out the mattress more often and turn down the heating. This will make the bedroom colder and less inviting but this is the same for yourself. We are now being bombarded with large heating bills and the need to insulate your house to save heat loss, this is ideal if you are a dust mite. So there are other things as well, vacuuming your mattress often especially at the headboard area will remove any food sources or debris, removing this source of food can also help. However, as we spend so much time, nearly up to a third of our lives asleep, we can also invest in some good bedding products. Invest in NOMITE certified bedding. This certification ensures that the high-density fabric casing forms a natural barrier against dust mites while still allowing for exceptional air exchange and climate regulation. NOMITE certified bedding gives you the option for natural bedding while remaining entirely hypoallergenic. This certification is more associated with pillows, duvets and some high quality mattress toppers and protectors. If you do not want natural feather fillings you have the option for synthetic fillings as such as Dacron Comforel and Suprelle Tencel. These nonallergenic fibres mean it is highly unlikely to attract potential allergens.

We would also advise the use of a good quality mattress protector and fitted sheets, the mites also love moisture so using a Coolmax or Climerelle fabric will help quite a lot. These superb fabrics are designed to absorb moisture from the body while you sleep, not only do they keep you dry they also release the moisture very quickly into the air away from your body and your mattress. This stops the moisture from being absorbed into your mattress. The ability to wash the bedding more often will also help to keep them at bay with the added bonus of a nice clean bed to get into each night. If you need any further information on our range of products please do not hesitate to get in touch as we are more than happy to help you get a good nights sleep.