DREAMING OF A SPRING CLEAN?
The clocks go forward later this month and as that extra hour of daylight starts to reveal dusty corners around the house, the Sleep Council offers some timely tips on spring cleaning your bed
We each shed an average of a pound of skin a year, much of it in to our mattress, and the average adult loses around half a pint of moisture while sleeping each night. So, an annual assault on the bed is a must for health and hygiene.
Remember too, the bed is a hazardous place for asthma sufferers as it is one of the most favoured haunts of the dust mite and its highly irritant faecal pellets – another powerful reason for making that clean sweep.
Here are The Sleep Council’s top tips for putting the bounce back in to your bed this spring:
• Strip everything off your bed and, if possible, get your mattress outside for a good airing in the spring sunshine. A light breeze will help to dry right through the mattress as well as make it smell considerably fresher. Alternatively, if it’s too large to move, stand it on its side near an open window for a few hours.
• Regularly turning the mattress over when changing the bed will help it to wear more evenly. If your mattress is designed to be used on one side only, you should still rotate it from head to toe.
• The mattress and upholstered base should be carefully cleaned with a soft brush to remove fluff and dust. Be careful about using a vacuum cleaner – it could dislodge fillings and damage the bed. Ensure the window is open while undertaking tasks that are likely to generate dust.
• If you feel the mattress needs more than just a vacuum, consider spray extraction cleaning. Ideally get a professional in to do the job.
• While the bed is moved out from any walls, be sure to vacuum thoroughly under and around the bed. Cleaning corners that might normally be neglected because they are obstructed by a heavy bed can yield huge amounts of dust and fluff.
• Regular cleaning of bedding is essential. While sheets and duvet/pillow cases might be regularly washed and changed, many pillows and blankets are never washed from year to year. Duvets too need regular washing or cleaning.
• Now you’ve cleaned down and spruced up, it’s worth buying a washable mattress protector.
• Invest in a hypo-allergenic cover for asthma or eczema sufferers. Beds are great news for house dust mites but seriously bad news for the asthma sufferer.
• Finally, be honest with yourself! Is this bed past its sell-by date? Is it more than seven years old, sagging and frankly not very comfortable? It could well be that no amount of spring cleaning will spruce it up and that the real answer lies in treating yourself to a new bed. You do spend around one third of your life in it, and a comfortable, stylish new bed could be the answer to your dreams.
