The age-old question of how often you should change your bedsheets

There are questions we ask ourselves every day for a moment and then tend to forget:  Does the toilet paper sheet go in front or the back of the roll? Or, exactly when do you have to change and clean your bedsheets?

We don’t have the answer to most of these questions, but we can at least have an idea exactly when do you need a fresh set of bedsheets and pillowcases!

Image: slaapwijsheid / Unsplash

Firstly, we have to consider that every country shares the same opinion about when you should change your bedsheets. Some of these opinions can even change between men and women, or people who are single or in a relationship.

A survey by Mattress Advisor, shared on the website This Old House, revealed that on average Americans kept their bedsheets on for up to 24 days!

However, a 2012 poll by the National Sleep Foundation claims that 92% of those in the US change their bedsheets every two weeks. Information about this subject is contradictory, to say the least.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that single women tended to change the sheets more often, with 62% putting a new set on every two weeks.

Conversely, almost half of single men confessed to not washing their bedsheets for up to four months, with 12% admitting not remembering the last time they changed them!

Still, this doesn’t answer the question of when exactly we need to swap out the old, dirty sheets for a clean set of bed linens.

Weather plays a major part in defining when to change our bedsheets. According to the BBC, wintertime can be more “forgiving” when it comes to how periodically we need to change our bedsheets, while we need to keep an eye on sweat and dead skin cells during hotter temperatures.

We all have heard about the dangers of bedbugs. Although CNN points out that these don’t transmit illnesses themselves, they can generate allergies and itchy red bite marks. Bedbugs can also affect mental health, causing insomnia and anxiety.

CNN highlights that your bed might be a literal hot bed for bacteria, without you suspecting a thing.

The website Healthline claims that not changing your bedsheets regularly can have pollen, fungi, and bacteria and other elements that might not make you directly sick, but worsen health problems, from asthma to eczema.

Overall, experts seem to agree that once a week is good enough to be on the safe side, and anything more than two weeks is too much time between changes.

According to Healthline, there are some things you can do to keep your bedsheets cleaner and to not need a new pillowcase every week. One of them, sadly, is not allowing your pets to sleep with you.

There are also other things you can do to go longer between bedsheet changes. For instance, you can avoid eating on your bed, shower before going to sleep, and not rest on your sheets when you’re all sweaty!

However, the website This Old House says that something as easy as making your bed every day in order to keep it tidy and airy can be wonderful way to reduce microbes.

Image: k_yasser / Usnplash