Are you staying on top of your bed maintenance? Here's what you need to know to protect your health and sleep better.

When life gets busy, the to-do lists can feel endless—cooking, running errands, taking care of our homes, and of course, doing laundry. And one of the least enjoyable tasks on that list? Washing bedding. After all, it’s a multi-step process: Strip the bed, wash the sheets, and either put them back on or fold them and grab a fresh set. And if you sleep with a duvet, there’s an entirely separate set of steps to tackle.

But could you be swapping out your sheets too frequently? Or not nearly enough? How often should you really change out your bed sheets? We asked the experts to find out.

How Often Should You Change Out Your Bed Sheets?

Most experts agree you should ideally give yourself a freshly laundered set of bed sheets approximately once a week. “Or at most, every two weeks,” says Pete He, PhD, co-founder and chief scientist at Dirty Labs. So, if your laundry day is Monday one week and Wednesday the next, that’s okay. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

However, there are some situations where you want to do this more than once a week. “If you sweat heavily at night, sleep with pets, or have allergies or sensitive skin, consider changing them even more frequently," Dr. He notes.

According to Michael Rubino, a mold and air quality expert, environmental wellness advocate, and founder of HomeCleanse, dirty sheets can negatively impact your health. “When our bedding isn’t changed often enough, it leads to a buildup of organic matter like skin cells, bacteria, mold spores, dust mites and their feces, and a plethora of other matter on these surfaces and embedded within the fibers," Rubino explains.

Read More Here: https://www.realsimple.com/how-often-do-you-need-to-change-your-bed-sheets-11791853