How To Prevent House Dust Mites?

Modern houses are the ideal breeding ground as we like to stay warm and keep out the cold drafts. Today's mattresses are so comfortable even the house dust mite doesn't want to get of bed! So there they stay, nice and warm and ready to eat dead skin cells that may come their way. To most of us they do not pose any harm, some say that the dust mites can help increase our immune system, we are not too sure about that one so we will stick to what we know.

If you suffer from any allergies, dust mites can help increase your symptoms and if you do not do anything about it, your troubles will only get worse. Recent research shows that different areas of the country are more prone than others, we are not quite sure how they came to this conclusion but the facts speak for themselves.

So what can we do to help reduce this risk? Did you know that 57% of us do not wash our bedding at least once a week, this is the first essential requirement of keeping the dust mites at bay. Clean bedding also helps with skin allergies, something else that the dreaded dust mites can aggravate. This is a simple yet very effective way at removing dust mites and also some of the dead skin cells we manage to shed each night.

Some research shows that you need to wash your bedding at high temperatures but with today's modern washing powders and washing machines this is not as important as it can ruin some of the more delicate cotton bedding, especially the higher thread count fabrics. We do not advise this, as you can shrink the fabric too much, causing excessive skewing and misalignment.

Another good tip is to turn your mattress over at least once or twice a year just to shake things up and loosen up the fibres etc, then you can vacuum both sides for maximum effect. Invest in some cotton anti allergy mattress protection, this is an essential barrier between you and your mattress. Dust mites will find it very hard or even impossible for them to travel through the fibres.

Wash them regularly for maximum protection but ensure you follow the wash care instructions. Also discard any unused or unwanted bedding as you never know what is lurking inside the fibres or fillings, vacuum pack any seasonal items such as duvets and mattress toppers to ensure that they stay clean and fresh until it is time to put them back on the bed.