The Germiest Place In Your Bedroom Might Surprise You
Ahh, your bedroom: the place where you peacefully rest your head after a long day, take part in mindful meditation, or slip away for a midday nap. Considering it's your sanctuary, you may not think your tranquil retreat harbors germs on the level of other hotspots in your home, such as your kitchen or bathroom.
But, alas: It turns out that your bedroom can foster plenty of unwanted bacteria and germs. For instance, your pillowcases and sheets can harbor 3 million to 5 million CFUs (colony-forming units) of bacteria per square inch after one week of use, via Amerisleep. Mattresses aren't any better, either. Amerisleep notes that a 7-year-old mattress has over 16 million CFUs, whereas a newer one has only 3 million.
However, despite the levels of bacteria in your bed, the germiest spot in your bedroom just might surprise you — and it's closer than you think. Keep reading to find out what it is.
The germiest place in your bedroom is something you wear
In fact, you might be wearing the germiest thing in your bedroom right now: your pajamas. Yes, your favorite nightshirt and cozy pajama pants can serve as ideal homes for germs to lurk in your bedroom. Mattress company Ergoflex conducted a 2,500-person survey that showed that men between the ages of 18 and 30 typically wore their PJs for 13 consecutive nights and women went a whopping 17 nights before washing their sleepwear.
Sally Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explained to Ergoflex: "Pajamas are against your skin. You shed skin cells at a vast rate all the time. They are full of microorganisms. We all have skin and gut organisms that are usually not harmful on our skin and in our gut. But if they get into the wrong place, they can cause problems. Quite a lot of us carry staphylococcus bacteria, which can cause infections if they get into cuts and bruises." Professor Bloomfield added that running your pajamas through the wash should remove most microbes but not all if you have worn them for two weeks.
In an interview with TODAY, Martha Stewart settled the PJ-washing debate. "I absolutely suggest you wash your pajamas, your nightgowns, your underwear, whatever you sleep in, every day," she said. After this news, we are prepared to wash our PJs daily!