Written by Amy Beecham
TikTok has a reputation for life-changing hacks, but is there any truth to its latest trend? Should we really be leaning into the unmade bed?
Between soft linen sheets to calming aromas and aesthetic lighting, we spend a lot of time (and money) making our bedrooms as serene as possible.
And for good reason. According to Dreams, the average person spends 33 years (or 12,045 days) of their life tucked up in bed.
But if, like me, you have a solid routine of making your bed as soon as you get out of it, you may want to reconsider. It seems that, despite what our parents would have had us believe growing up, a series of viral TikTok’s are warning against just that.
Yep. According to a video by @sherifelsahly, which has been viewed over 2.7 million times, we shouldn’t actually be making our beds in the morning.
“Dust mites can live on your bed,” he explains. “So if you make your bed as soon as you get up, you actually trap millions of dust mites and as a result they keep growing.” Instead, he advises leaving your sheets unmade in order to air out any residual sweat, dust or bacteria that may have collected.
Similar videos by @yolkfather and @osilashealthsuggest the same thing.
“Making your bed first thing in the morning actually traps in moisture and allows your bed to be a home to up to 1.5 million dust mites, which can produce allergens,” nutritionist OSILAS Health adds.
“Instead, leave your bed messy to expose the mites to fresh air and sunlight which will cause them to dehydrate and die out.”
While it’s not the nicest thing to think about, it makes sense that, with dirt, bacteria, oils, dead skin cells, sweat, drool and hair products all building up on our sheets, making sure they’re properly aired and dried is important.
Experts already advise washing bedding once a week at a minimum, and twice a week if you can, but it seems the campaign for messy beds has some scientific backing too.
In a TikTok posted back in 2020, NHS GP Dr Karan Raj explained that “making your bed in the morning traps dust mites that have accumulated overnight. These microscopic predators, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on the scales of human skin and thrive in moist environments.
“When we sleep at night, our bodies become warm and sweaty, making them prime targets for these mites to feed on,” he added.
There we have it. Unmade beds are officially the way to go.
Images: Getty
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