Are dust mites and other creepy crawlies disrupting your sleep? We know that feeling. The quality of a mattress is one of the key factors that determine the quality of your sleep cycle and how restful and restorative sleep is important for our daily functioning. However, a good mattress can be hard to find, and if it’s not hypoallergenic, it’s even harder to maintain.
Removing dust mites from your mattress and keeping your mattress clean from them is more challenging than keeping your mattress in general. The way you’ll clean it also depends on what your mattress is made of. For example, you can’t pour water on your memory foam mattress, can you?
In this article, we’ll list the best ways to remove dust mites from your mattress. Additionally, we’ll give additional tips on how to prevent dust mites from appearing on your mattress in the first place, so that you can maintain how clean your mattress is and never wake up with a congested nose or sneezing due to a bad allergy reaction. According to studies, it’s hard to control a dust mite allergy in dirty surroundings.
Dust mites are super-small insects that hide and crawl everywhere in the house. As their name suggests, they feed on dust and not just any dust. They eat the leftover dead skin cells that shed off our skin on daily basis. They can be found in your clothes, wardrobe, carpers, in the dusty corners of your home, and everywhere else.
Keeping your mattress and house in particular clean of dust mites is of utmost importance. Numerous studies concluded that having an abundance of dust mites leads to poor sleep quality.
If that’s so, why are dust mites hiding in your mattress? Well, research shows we spend one-third of our lives in bed, sleeping. Such a long time and nights full of tossing and turning sure does shed our skin to the point we need help cleaning them out. Our mattress, sheets, pillows, and covers are likely full of our dead skin cells that are food for these parasites.
Even these practically invisible parasites don’t attack humans in sense of biting them or laying eggs in our skin, they can cause a lot of problems for people who are allergic to them. As they’re excreting their feces, they also distribute enzymes that we’re particularly sensitive to. As they do that on our bedding and mattress, it can result in moderate to severe allergic reactions.
Not everyone is allergic to dust mites, but those who are can have a lot of problems building and maintaining a healthy sleep schedule. Even though you may not be allergic to dust mites and you have an extremely tidy and clean home, it’s still advisable to take some measures to keep your mattress clean.
With that in mind, here is how to remove dust mites from the mattress with these simple tricks.
7 Ways To Remove Dust Mites From Mattress
Now that you got to know what dust mites are, here’s how to remove them from your mattress. Not all methods may work, which is why it’s good to consider all the options we listed and apply them for better results.
Give Your Mattress A Sunbath
According to this publication, dust mites don’t resist extreme heat. Just like you may sometimes take your pillows and sheets out on the sun, you should occasionally do that with your mattress too. It’s also a good idea to take your mattress to the balcony or garden and let it have some sun.
Different experts suggest that the appropriate temperature to kill dust mites is anywhere from 120 degrees Fahrenheit to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. This may not be the best solution if you live in a not-so-hot place yearly. However, over the day, the mattress would warm up enough to kill all the mites and eggs that are lingering inside.
It is also a good idea to leave both sides on the sun for an equal amount of time to make sure that all the dust mites are gone.
Editor’s notes: If your mattress has a mattress cover, you can remove it and let them dry separately in the sun.
Wash Your Mattress Cover
Most mattresses are delivered with a mattress cover that is removable by a zipper or buttons. More importantly, while the mattress itself is mostly not washable, it’s worth noting that the mattress covers are washable in their entirety.
Usually, it’s not the inner layers of your mattress that are infested with dust mites, it’s usually the cover as both our bodies and the sheets can touch them and transmit the eggs and creepy parasites on it. While you’re washing the mattress cover, make sure to let your mattress on the air, as mentioned above, let it catch some sun, and not worry about anything.
Editor’s notes:
- Make sure to wash your cover at a temperature higher than 130 degrees Fahrenheit for a better result.
- Try using steam.
- Let your mattress cover also dry itself outside, in the sun.
Change The Clutter Of Your Room
You may not be an interior designer, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t move your furniture and arrange it in a way that will both look and feel satisfying for you. We mentioned earlier that one of the ways to remove dust mites from your bed is to let the mattress out in the air.
If your room has windows where the sun is coming through, you can simply place your bed near that window and let your mattress get the sun through the window without moving it to your balcony or garden. That way, your bed receives the spa treatment every day and easily gets rid of persistent and annoying mites by the time it’s time to go to bed.
Also Read: 30 Super Cool Things for Your Bedroom in 2021
Editor’s notes:
- Remove the sheets and pillow during the day so your mattress can get an adequate amount of sunlight.
- You can also rotate and flip your mattress every day unless you think it’s too heavy and might get exhausted doing it.
Vacuum Clean It
Frequently vacuum cleaning your mattress and mattress cover can be quite useful when it comes to removing dust mites from your mattress. Something that could also help get rid of dust mites on your mattress also includes vacuum cleaning your room at least once to twice a week.
If you dust to clean the rest of your bedroom, there will be less chance that the dust mites will thrive on your bed. It may not be the most promising solution but it should work.
Editor’s notes:
- Avoid cleaning dust mites on soft mattresses. They have a conforming ability that allows them to conform to the shape of your body as you lay. If you’ll vacuum clean either too roughly or a super soft mattress, chances are it’ll disintegrate and lose its ability to conform.
- UV vacuum cleaners can be more effective at killing the dust mites and preventing their eggs from hatching. They operate at a higher temperature compared to the regular vacuum cleaners. According to this study high UV index will also contribute to killing dust mites and preventing their eggs from hatching easily.
Vacuum + Baking Soda
You’d be surprised to know how useful baking soda can be in various things. It’s known that baking soda has antibacterial properties, and it’ll help you get rid of all sorts of bacteria and microbes both in your house and in your body.
That said, in addition to cleaning your mattress with a vacuum cleaner, you could also bottle a mixture of water and baking soda and spray it on your mattress from two sides. Leave it on the mattress for 15 to 20 minutes and then vacuum clean the mattress once again.
Editor’s notes:
This method is not recommendable if you have a memory foam or latex mattress. The water over their materials could disintegrate the material and prevent it from conforming to your body. Memory foam mattresses are not waterproof, so either spray only the mattress cover or spray only mattresses with springs or coils.
Eucalyptus Oil And Tea Tree Magical Mix
If you want a more sophisticated solution than baking soda, you should try Tea Tree which magically removes parasites and fungi from your body and furniture. They’ll allow you to disinfect your mattress in no time while leaving a relaxing and soothing smell afterward.
Similarly like with baking water, mix the two ingredients with water and bottle them. After that, you can spray it to your bed and leave it for 10 to 20 minutes to dissipate. You can also use it in other areas in your bedroom to make sure that your mattress will remain clean even after cleaning the mattress.
It’s also important to continue doing this daily until all the dust mites are eliminated from your furniture.
Editor’s notes:
Similarly like with the baking soda mix, it’s necessary to avoid spraying these mixtures on the mattresses that are made of memory foam or latex, as that could worsen the quality of your mattress and make its overall lifespan decay.
If Nothing Works Call In The Professional
Dust mites are persistent little crawlies, and not being able to virtually see them with the naked eye can make the cleaning process harder for many people. You shouldn’t feel bad if none of the methods work completely. Also, if you don’t have time for your maintenance of the mattress, perhaps you should rely on a professional to come and get rid of them.
All experts will combine a set of chemicals and use them with a special vaporizer or vacuum cleaner to get rid of the dust mites. Some people call these people regularly, often even more than two times a year, which is recommended.
Editor’s notes:
- Keep in mind that not all professionals can be trusted. Ensure to trust the service, call them, check the reviews on Google and their social media profile if there are some before you invite them to the house.
- Discuss what chemicals they’ll use to clean your mattress, as some chemicals can be harmful to the mattress, but also to you. Some may even result in allergies so bad that the dust mites allergy will feel like nothing.
How To Prevent Dust Mites From Appearing In Mattress?
Removing dust mites from the mattress sometimes simply doesn’t cut it. There are other things that you need to consider to ensure that they’ll keep their tiny legs off your mattress. Preventive is better than the cure, which is why we’ll discuss the best ways to prevent dust mites from the bed.
Keep in mind that the aforementioned tips for removing dust mites from mattresses can also be used for prevention. We’re just adding a few more tips to make sure they won’t come at all. In addition to purchasing a hypoallergenic mattress, here’s how you can prevent dust mites in your bedroom.
Reduce Humidity In Your Bedroom
Dust mites thrive in humid environments. Without a proper vaporizer and dehumidifier, it may be impossible to prevent dust mites from infesting your bedroom.
Dust mites are known to love the humidity. When it rains, chances are that they’ll have an easier time crawling through the open window and laying eggs in your bed.
Dehumidifier as well as the air conditioner set on the dehumidifying mode can help you get rid of the excess humidity in the room. Experts recommend from 25% to 50% of humidity in the room, recommending humidifiers in dry environments.
Keeping the humidity levels under 40% will generally help get rid of the excess humidity in your bedroom, and also prevent dust mites from infesting your mattress and calling it their home.
Also Read: Where to Place Humidifier in Bedroom?
Clean Your Sheets Frequently
When dust mites appear on and inside your mattress, chances are they already came from somewhere. You don’t exactly lay over your mattress but your sheets and pillow, which means that the dust mites are most abundant in those areas.
There are a lot of ways to clean your sheets, like washing them every few weeks and changing them frequently to prevent the dust mites from staying there. You can vacuum clean your sheets weekly and bi-weekly and see to change your pillows if they’re not hypoallergenic and are prone to dust mites.
Finally, using a waterproof and hypoallergenic mattress protector can further aid your problem, as they shelter your mattress from moisture which can attract a lot of dust mites on your mattress.
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