Is Your Pillow Making You Sick?
By Sara Butler
There’s no feeling quite as nice as resting your head on your pillow at the end of a long day. Your pillow cradles your head as you snuggle under your covers and lets sleep take you away. But you may be resting your head on something that is a danger to your overall health! Your pillow can actually wreak havoc on your overall health and wellness -- here’s how and what you can do about it!
Something's Hiding in Your Pillow
You pillow seems like a pretty innocent object, right? It’s meant to provide comfort for your neck as you sleep. But there’s more to your pillow than meets the eye.
During your pillow’s lifespan, it becomes a breeding ground for all kinds of things such as fungi, mold, and even bugs. Studies have found that the average pillow contains over one million fungal spores. Yuck!
How Your Pillow Makes You Sick
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that if the thing you plaster your face against for hours at a time is full of things that can make you sick, then you’re going to get sick. The stuff living in your pillow can have an impact on your house and can trigger reactions that can make asthma worse or give you sinus trouble. It may even cause respiratory complications for people who don’t have asthma.
The dust mites can also cause allergic reactions, and trigger reactions like hay fever and rhinitis in some people. Breathing in all this stuff night after night can put a lot of pressure on your immune system and it may weaken it in the process. But the good news is you can give your immune system a break by just following a few simple rules to care for your pillow.
How to Treat Your Pillow Properly
You can avoid the germs and dust mites by caring for your pillow. You should:
- Never go to bed without dry hair - The things that live in your pillow need moisture to survive and going to bed with wet hair gives them just what they want! Dry your hair before bed so you don’t help them to thrive.
- Vacuum regularly - You should dust, declutter, and vacuum your bedroom regularly to help discourage dust mites because they don’t just thrive in pillows!
- Replace your pillows - You should replace your pillows at least every two years.
You can keep your pillow from being the perfect ecosystem for mold, mites, and bacteria by using these simple techniques! What are you waiting for?
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Fitchburg, Wisc.