How Often Should You Wash Your Bed Sheets?

Are you amongst the types who love the smell and feel of stiff freshly ironed bed linen like me and are also blessed with the tropical sun? If that is the case, you can treat yourself to fresh bedding every day. If you are wondering how often should you wash your sheets, make sure that you wash sheets and change beddings at least once per week to keep harmful dust mites, dead skin cells, bacteria, and other such irritants at bay at all times.

Bed sheets and your health

You must remember that you should not compromise on your safety, well-being, and health at any point of time. Those are priorities, and the hassle of cleaning and changing your dirty sheets is really nothing in comparison. After that, you must think about your personal preferences as well. These tend to differ.

Cleanliness is an important part of being healthy and happy. Not only clean sheets help you to keep healthy, but it is also a mood-booster. Fresh sheets also help you to sleep well at the end of the day.

If you are unwell, especially with a viral or bacterial infection, it is important to change and wash your bed sheet as soon as you heal. While your body might have healed and developed antibodies, some of the harmful germs might still be lingering on the bed sheet. Someone else who has a relatively weaker immune system can catch the infection rather easily.

But that apart, make sure that you change beddings at least once in 8-10 days to keep harmful dust mites, bacteria, and other such irritants at bay at all times.

How often should you wash your bed sheet?

For those with a washing machine and blessed with natural sunlight, cleaning a bed sheet is much easier than those staying in areas with damp weather. So the convenience aspect changes from person to person, but it plays a key role in helping you decide how often to change sheets.

According to popular studies, more than 90 percent of people wash or change bedding at least once every 7-10 days. But there are many other factors that influence this decision, and there cannot be one rule that can be applied to all. The easiest will be to take a case-by-case decision.

• If you are sleeping alone and cover the bed promptly every morning, you may change the sheet every 7- 8 days.
• If you have been sleeping naked and sweating excessively, there is a greater accumulation of dust mites, harmful bacteria, body oils and even fecal matter. In that case, changing your sheets every 4-5 days can be more appropriate.
• In the case of babies, a regular change of bedsheet is advisable. This is because they are lying down continuously on the bed, and when you are changing nappies, the chance of greater accumulation of harmful living beings like bacteria and fungi increases.
• In case your pet sleeps on the bed with you, it is important that you do change your sheets not less than once a week. Apart from shedding hair, their skin often may bring several foreign allergens and disease carriers to your bed unknowingly.
• In case you have been unwell, it is necessary to change your bedsheet regularly, or at least every alternate day.
• People who experience allergies, skin rashes or have sensitive skin may find it beneficial to replace their bed linens every 3 to 4 days.

Proper Care Tips

• Do not choose excessive chemical detergents to wash your sheets.
• Avoid using fabric softeners and dryer sheets, or at the very least, use them sparingly and not with every cleaning cycle.
• It is always better to remove noticeable stains before putting the sheet in the washer.
• Double rinse your bedsheets and pillow covers as the detergent residue can discolor them.
• Do wash in cold or lukewarm water as high temperature can damage the fibers of your sheets.
• It is good to take the sheet out half-dry and then dangle them on the drying rack.