If you’ve been putting off washing your bedsheets, consider this a serious reminder to stop delaying and get them into the laundry as soon as possible.
A microbiology expert has raised concerns about how often people clean their bedding, and it turns out, it’s not just about keeping things looking and smelling nice. There’s a real health risk if you’re not washing them regularly enough.
Many of us are busy and tired, so changing and washing sheets doesn’t always feel like a top priority. It’s one of those chores that’s easy to ignore. But this expert’s warning might make you rethink that.
Primrose Freestone, a clinical microbiology lecturer from the University of Leicester, explained that even though your bed might appear clean, it can be full of things you can’t see—like bacteria, allergens, dust mites, and other irritating microbes. All of these can build up quickly.
When you sleep, your body sheds dead skin cells, releases sweat, natural oils, and even bacteria. All of that ends up in your sheets. If not cleaned regularly, this mix can lead to infections or allergic reactions. It also creates an environment that smells bad and feels dirty.
There’s also a specific kind of fungus called *aspergillus fumigatus* that can live in dirty bedding. While it’s mostly harmless to healthy people, it can cause serious lung infections in people with weak immune systems.
To avoid these problems, the recommendation is to wash your bedsheets at least once a week. But if you’re sick, sweat a lot at night, or let pets sleep in your bed, you should aim to wash them every three to four days.
Not washing your sheets often enough can even affect your breathing. Dust mites, which love dirty bedding, can cause stuffy noses and other breathing issues. And in extreme cases, dirty sheets have been linked to dangerous bacteria like *Staphylococcus* and *E. coli*, which can cause skin problems, pneumonia, urinary infections, diarrhoea, and even serious conditions like meningitis or sepsis.
These more extreme cases are rare, but they show how important it is to keep your bed clean. So if it’s been a while since you last washed your sheets, now’s the time to toss them into the washing machine and give yourself a cleaner, healthier place to sleep.
