The Hazards Of A Well-Made Bed – Dust Mites
28 Dec 2007
What do you sleep on? Of course, the normal reply is the mattress. But few people realize they’re also resting on millions of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinuscan (dust mites). So what are these crawly creatures doing in your bed and how can you decrease the risk of their intrusion? And you had better think twice before you makie the bed.
Dust mites are related to spiders and will never win a beauty contest. They’re ugly, menacing, micrsoscopic in size, have eight legs and you can put either 1,000 mites or 250,000 of their fecal pellets in half a teaspoon.
Dust mites accumulate in rugs, fabrics, and furniture. But they prefer our warm beds, pillows and blankets where they live along with vast amounts of their fecal dropping. And since they like mealtime they can’t wait for us to lie down on the bed. Their diet consists of our dead skin cells so here’s a good Trivial Pursuit question. How many people know that dead skin cells account for 80 percent of house dust?
But dust mites cannot live by dust alone. They also need liquid, the water vapour we provide during the night by breathing and perspiring which amounts to one pint per person per night! This is why we always weigh less in the morning.
At this point you may be saying, "Luckily this isn’t a problem for our home". But dust mites are found is all homes no matter how clean. And if you think you can escape this nasty creature by moving to Antartica, don’t bother as its been found in that location.
So are dust mites hazardous to our health? For a start it doesn’t help the psyche to know you’re sleeping along with millions of these creatures every night! But dust mites have been linked to allergy problems that cause watery itchy eyes, sneezing, nasal stuffiness, eczema and asthma. It’s the fecal pellet containing guanine that triggers allergic reactions.
A report by North America’s environmental watchdog agency says asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in our children and also a serious problem for adults. Authorities say that 80 percent of asthmatic children test positive to dust mite.
While researching this column my primary thought was, there must be a way to get rid of these spider-like mites, particularly if a family member suffers from asthma or other allergies. It’s not an easy task but several steps will decrease the risk of allergic problems.
Don’t sleep with your pet. Pet dander is not your friend. So have Fido or Felix the cat sleep in an area far removed from your bedroom. If this causes psychological problems for you I doubt that it will affect Fido or Felix.
Think twice before making up the bed. This can be a tough sell if you’re a neatnik. A friend with a compulsive wife once complained to me, "If I get up at night to go to the bathroom, by the time I get back my wife has made the bed!" Chambermaids are known to suffer from "bed-maker’s lung", an allergic condition. So at least toss covers well off the bed when you get up which helps to dry out the bed before it is made up.
Protect your psyche or asthmatic partner by having a barrier between you and the mites. Gary Goldberg, in Providence Rhode Island, had a child who wheezed through the night. Luckily his family had manufactured bed sheets for years, so he developed a zippered protective mattress cover that no mite can penetrate. It’s as soft as silk and now his child sleeps noiselessly. For more information see the web sitewww.cleanrest.com or call the toll-free # 1-877-215-7378
Another company Hygientech has developed a high tech vacuum with a dual action. It sucks up mites, but also uses ultraviolet light to penetrate mattresses, rugs and covered furniture to kill dust mites. For more information see the web site www etc or call the toll-free # 1-561-999-0301
I hope you have pleasant dreams tonight. As for me I’ve decided to read a hour or two longer before I go to bed! And pull sheets and blankets well apart in the morning.
