Here is one of the reasons that your mama always told you to change your sheets and clean your room.

Dust

As you probably have noticed, there’s dust everywhere! You might have heard that it is made of human skin cells. But that is not entirely true. Some studies have found that more than 60% of household dust comes from outdoors Among them are things like pollen, dirt, and sand. But the rest is mostly dead skin cells, along with lots of dust mites. Yep, you read that right. Dust Mites!

From the Youtube channel SicShow we learn that “Dust mites are nearly microscopic arachnids that hover on the border between visible and invisible, with an average length of about 0.3 millimeters. Despite their tiny size, dust mites are all over. And one study found that 84% of households had a detectable dust mite population”.

3d rendered illustration of a house dust mite

So why is this a problem?

The average human sheds about one million skin cells a day, and most of those come off in the tossing and turning while you are asleep. So mattresses and pillows tend to be full of those human skin cells, making them an ideal home for dust mites. Our dead skin cells are their favorite meal. There are, on average, a hundred thousand dust mites living in the typical mattress. Yikes!! Mites use digestive enzymes that can cause allergic reactions in humans. It’s when they excrete the enzymes and you breathe them in that causes the allergic reaction with sneezing, wheezing o or itching. And when you have a hundred thousand dust mites living in your sheets, there is great potential for your body to react in one way or another.

What can be done?

So the takeaway from this is to wash the bedding often and in hot water of at least a hundred thirty degrees to kill the mites and take away their food. Use dust-free mattress covers or polyester sheets and pillow coverings. Controlling dust around the house with vacuuming and dusting surfaces will ultimately help to control the population. Last, consider using a dehumidifier and keeping the humidity lower than fifty percent. Killing dust mites isn’t easy. The dust mite population decreases in colder months when the humidity is lower and comes back when l the moisture comes back. That’s why some people find that their dust allergies are seasonal.

Take time to dust and clean your house and breathe a little easier.

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For more information on dust mites, you can check out http://www.scishowtangents.org.