Wash your bed sheets once a week to avoid dirt and health risks: OECD
Wash your bed sheets once a week to avoid dirt and health risks: OECD
2023-01-02
A new OECD report sheds light on the importance of washing bedding regularly. It claims that a bed sheet accumulates five million microbes in just one week. And not washing sheets seems to be linked to various health problems, such as allergies, asthma, and even appendicitis. We spoke to doctors and nurses to get the lowdown on taking care of bedding.
We asked these folk on the street how often they change their bed sheets. A study from the OECD says that we enjoy an average of 26 years of good sleep over a lifetime. That means we spend one third of our lives asleep. And doctors say not changing sheets often enough can cause health problems.
Tseng Teh-ming
Taiwan Adventist Hospital
Normally our skin has more than 5,000 different types of microbes on it. If the sheet isn’t very clean, we can get respiratory tract diseases, such as allergies, allergic rhinitis, asthmas and so on.
International research indicates that five million microbes will be living on a bed sheet after one week’s use. That’s 24,000 times more microbes than you’ll find on your bathroom door handle! Not washing bedding enough has also been found to correlate with potentially fatal diseases like pneumonia and appendicitis, and to large number of microbes proliferating. Experts say bed sheets should be changed at least once a week.
Tan Tun-tzu
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Only get into bed after you shower. If you keep the humidity of the room at around 50%, dust mites won’t proliferate as much.
They also advise not to dry your blanket out in the sun. Microparticles in the atmosphere will attach to your bedding, and get it dirtier than it was before. Blankets made of synthetic materials, which are easy to wash, are recommended.
床單細菌恐誘發皮膚炎 專家建議:一週換一次
2023-01-02
國外研究顯示，一週不洗床單就會滋生500萬隻細菌，甚至引發肺炎、闌尾炎等致命性疾病，皮膚科醫師表示，床單上的微生物或細菌，可能會誘發皮膚炎或呼吸道疾病，專家就建議至少一個禮拜就更換一次床單。
隨機詢問，大多民眾約一個月換一次床單，經濟合作與發展組織研究指出，人的一生中平均有26年在良好的睡眠上，也就是說睡覺其實佔了我們壽命1/3的時間，醫師強調，床單換洗頻率不夠，恐怕會引發健康問題。
[[台安醫院皮膚科主任 曾德朋]]
“人的一般皮膚上面就有5千多種不同的菌種，如果說這個床單不大乾淨的話，呼吸道的疾病，像我們叫過敏、過敏性鼻炎、氣喘這些的”
國外研究顯示，床單一週不洗就會滋生500萬隻細菌，比浴室門把多出2萬4千倍。寢具換洗不夠，還被發現與肺炎、闌尾炎等致命性疾病的感染呈現正相關，更會滋生大量病原體。專家認為，至少一個禮拜要換一次床單。
[[長庚醫院臨床毒物中心護理師 譚敦慈]]
“洗完澡才碰床，如果你的溼度都是在50左右的話，其實不容易長塵蟎”
專家也建議，不要把棉被曬在外面，因為空氣中的懸浮微粒會落在寢具上，棉被反而越曬越髒，可以選擇一般化學纖維好清潔的被子。
Related News
