I have made a BIG mistake.
I have been forcing my family to dress their beds each morning the minute they get up.
My reasons have been varied; firstly, we have so much to do each morning to get everyone out of the house that dressing the beds seems like a good place to start.
Secondly, I believed that it was a really good mindfulness practice – by dressing your bed after you get up, you close the door on yesterday and get ready for the day ahead.
Dr. Stephen Pretlove from the Kingston University School of Architecture says that making your bed first thing essentially traps all of your body heat, skin cells and – gulp – sweat all over the bed.
And all of this moisture leads to a big problem for anyone with asthmatic or lung issues – it attracts the dreaded dust mite.
Scientists estimate that there could be as many as 1.5 million dust mites living in the average bed and feeding off our dead skin cells.
They are not the problem in themselves but their excrement that can irritate dust allergies and cause asthma flare-ups when inhaled.
The solution is to pull those sheets off the bed in the morning and expose the mattress to air and light so that the mites dry out and deplete their lifeline.
For the record, I am going home later to throw EVERYTHING into the washing machine on high, I will possibly be throwing out my pillows forever AND I’m never dressing my bed again.
Who’s with me?
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