2008-10-26 12:07:23
by: Patricia Bowlin
I get questions from my customers about how to best take care of their bed
linens. You may have been wondering about this too. How often should be linen
be changed to maintain your linens for years of use. You might also wonder how
often to change linen if you have an allergy sufferer in your home.
Let's get into then-
How often bed linens should be changed depends on several different things.
Every person sheds skin every day and every night, resulting in bits of dead
skin to be on bed linens after a night s sleep. It would be very nice to have
bed linen changed daily for completely freshness, but for most people this is
impractical and virtually impossible with a busy daily schedule. Probably the
only people who have a housekeeping staff can enjoy the luxury of fresh sheets
and pillowcases being replaced daily.
In general, a good homemaker changes bed linens at least once per week.
However, if experiencing night sweats or hot flashes, it may be best to change
them more frequently. Assuming that the people who sleep in the bed shower
before bedtime, that they do not eat or drink in bed and cause spills, or that
the bed linen becomes dirty more quickly for any other reason, weekly linen
changes are normally sufficient.
Some people prefer to change their bed linen twice weekly to ensure their
sheets always feel fresh and snuggly. This can be very useful during the warmer
months, especially if you keep your home warmer to save energy. In winter,
these same people often prefer to allow the sheets to stay on the bed a few
more days since body perspiration is less likely.
Anyone who has allergies should change their bed linen as often as possible.
Dust mites and other allergens collect on bed linen and can aggravate the
allergies causing runny noses, stuffed sinuses, and other problems that last
all day long.
In fact, some people with the most severe allergies are forced to change bed
linens each day to prevent suffering after sleeping on day-old bed linens.
So, the answer to the question of how often should bed linens be changed really
depends on your lifestyle, your health, and your personal preferences.
However, you should never leave bed linen on the bed longer than one week. It's
usually best to own at least 3 sets of bed linens. One for the bed...one in the
linen closet and one in the laundry.