How often do you change your bedsheets? No, really… how often? Once a month, every two weeks, each week? If you don’t change your bedding regularly enough then your bed and your home could become infested with a whole host of hideous bugs.
Bed bugs are the most common pests to find in your bed (stop reading now if you’re squeamish!) but you’re not likely to actually see these little critters in the flesh (as it were). Rather, you’re more likely to find small brownish spots on your bedding which is bed bug excrement (told you it could get yucky!)
If you have a wooden bed base then you could have termites living in there. Warning signs include discarded broken wings (which resemble fish scales) and something called ‘frass’ which are small pellets or termite droppings which are left in mounds. You also could have dust mites living in your bedding and mattress – they love feeding off our dead skin!
Recent research found that many people don’t change their bedding as often as they should making them far more likely to fall victim to all kinds of bed bugs and creepy crawlies. Almost half of the single men interviewed for the research admitted that they don’t wash their bed sheets for up to four months at a time (no wonder they’re single!) whilst single women claim to change their bedding on average every two weeks. The research found that couples clean their sheets once every three weeks.
According to experts this isn’t enough! Bedding should be changed weekly to make sure that dead skin cells don’t build up too much thereby reducing the likelihood of an infestation of bed bugs and termites.
You should replace your mattress every six to eight years and if you want to prevent bed bugs entering your home then buying second-hand isn’t advisable either.
We are dedicated to helping you find the right mattress for you so if you think the time has come to replace your old mattress we’re here to help with some top tips:
- Firmness – most people prefer medium firm mattresses either memory foam which adapts to the body and takes the weight off pressure points, or innerspring which has internal steel coils to keep the spine aligned while asleep
- Sleep position – whether you sleep on your back, side or front will affect the choice of mattress as you will need a different kind of support depending on your sleep position
- Body type – your weight and body type has a huge impact on comfort in bed so you need to take this into account. You may also need to allow for two people with different body types sleeping in the same bed
- Other factors such as temperature – are you a ‘hot’ sleeper? If so you might benefit from the latest technology in cooling mattresses. Do you suffer with joint pain? There are specialist mattresses available which offer additional support to people with back pain
Call into our showroom for on the spot advice on buying the best mattress for your needs and wave goodbye to any nasty bedtime bugs!