Filed under: Bedroom, Your Home
You already know that dorm room beds aren't sparkling clean. But after hearing all the details about the bacteria, yeast and mold colonies you might think twice about sending your kids to college.
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This week, our friends at SleepBetter.org sent over a study that's still making us shudder (and throw out old bedding). They tested the pillows and mattress pads from 50 college students around the country and found that they had, on average, 350,000 potential live bacteria colonies and 91,000 potential live yeast and mold colonies. And the mattress pads? 2 million potential bacteria colonies and 330,000 yeast and mold colonies.
It sounds incredibly gross, yes, but we'll admit we don't actually know what dangers these bacteria and mold colonies bring. Is it serious? Or does it sound a lot more disgusting than it actually does? We spoke to Dr. Lisa Shives to find out.
Yes, this information is gross but if everyone has these mold and bacteria colonies, how bad are they for you?
Most of these microbes are part of the normal human condition, so if you're 25 and healthy as a horse, then this probably won't affect you. But for the millions who deal with conditions like chronic sinusitis, allergies or asthma -- this is data that they should pay attention to and get rid of their old pillows and mattress pads, anything over one year old.
Short of doing your own microbial study, how can you assess how dirty your own pillows/mattress pad?
The college students we tested had their pillows for, on average, 4.5 years. And the study found that the age of the pillow trends with the total amount of bacteria, yeast and mold.
If you aren't prepared to buy something new, what can you do to clean things up?
Make sure you know the proper cleaning technique for pillows. Also, keep the pillow as dry as possible. Shower at night to cut down on the dead skin cells, oils and dust-mites on the bedding, but make sure your hair is thoroughly dry before crawling into bed.