Who Are You Sleeping With? The Facts about Dust Mites

 

 

 

 

On average, we spend about one third of our time in bed. Perhaps you spent a lot of time making your bed just right...you picked the perfect linens, bought the mattress with the best support, and accented your duvet with gorgeous shams.

 

       Well, now it’s time to think about cleaning your bed, and it goes deeper than flipping the mattress or changing the sheets. According to the Center for Disease Control, a used mattress can have anywhere between 10,000 to 10 million dust mites in it. And you’re sleeping with them every night.

       These microscopic pests feed on shed skin and belong in the same species order as spiders. Modern amenities such as climate control and wall to wall carpeting provide favorable conditions for a thriving population of dust mites. They can be found in your clothes, upholstered furniture, and carpet, but their favorite place is your bed. Although they do not bite or sting, they can make life pretty uncomfortable for you or any of your family members who suffer from allergies or asthma. Since human homes provide prime living conditions for dust mites, they reproduce quickly and are a perpetual source of allergens. Dust mites can irritate those who suffer from asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis and dermatitis. It’s actually the dust mite’s waste, not the actual mite, which contains the antigens that trigger allergy attacks. Keeping the number of dust mites in your home to a minimum can dramatically affect your family’s health.

       Even if you don’t have allergies but value a clean home, dust mites should be at the top of your hit list. Dust mites cannot be killed by bleach or soaps, and you can never completely rid your home of these creepy crawlers, but following these suggestions can offer significant relief from allergies and provide the satisfaction of having a cleaner, healthier home.

• Wash clothing, bedding and any washable covers on furniture weekly in hot water.
• Clean your mattress, pillows, and upholstered furniture on a regular basis.
• Use Anti-allergen treatments for your bed, upholstery, carpet and laundry.
• Keep the ambient humidity below 60%. It slows down mite reproduction.
• Dust regularly and beat throw rugs and pillows outside frequently.
• Replace pillows every few years.
• Use a vacuum with HEPA filtration.
• Some plant oil vapors such as nutmeg, pine and spearmint can be effective in killing dust mites within close vicinity of the vapors.

       If having a healthy home is a top priority for you, American Steam-A-Way also offers many ways to help you control the dust mite population in your home. Our carpet, upholstery, and air-duct cleaning services will each provide a benefit since dust mites are found in all these areas. The biggest opportunity for improvement, however, will be found in our mattress cleaning service. The scientifically proven Hygienitech® Mattress Cleaning and Sanitizing process is an all-natural, chemical-free, dry treatment procedure that effectively removes and destroys dust mites, fungal spores, bacteria and other harmful debris found in all mattresses.

       Hygienitech's® Mattress Cleaning System is based on a powerful, specially engineered portable cleaning device that generates incredible suction and high frequency pulsating waves, combined with a germ killing UVC light to pulverize and extract the dust mites and other harmful debris that have accumulated in the mattress.