Why You Should Throw Away Your Pillow Every Two Years

You probably don’t want to think of your home being covered in bugs. But it is. Lots of them. And you would certainly not believe that your pillow has something to do with it!

Dust mites are microscopic creatures that live in our soft furnishings, and they’re often the trigger for respiratory issues.

This is why we clean our clothes and bedding, to remove stains but also kill off any dust mites lurking in the fabric.

Our pillows are one thing that tend to fall by the wayside, though, with research from Dreams showing that A TikTok by Dr Karan Raj has highlighted the importance of replacing our pillows and giving them regular cleans, and it’s pretty disgusting to think about.

In the video, which has now been viewed millions of times, he says: ‘You need to change your pillows at least every two years. ‘The average person sheds about 4kg of skin every year. Most of that ends up on your bed or pillow – a feast for microscopic dust mites.

‘A single dust mite has about 20 droppings each day, multiply that by the hundreds of mites living on your pillow. A build up of dust mite faeces can cause breathing and allergy-type symptoms.’

He goes on to talk about stains on our pillows, which are caused by oil and sweat our skin produces in the night. This can breed mould and bacteria, furthering his point that we should be replacing our pillows. Dr Raj advises folding your pillow in half. If it fails to spring back, you should get yourself a new one.

This isn’t totally foolproof, as some pillows are designed not to be springy (such as the thick memory foam options) but is a good place to start.

We spoke to Martin Seeley, CEO of MattressNextDay, to see whether it’s really necessary to change pillows even if you ‘feel’ like they’re fine.

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘The average person sheds eight pounds of dead skin each year. Combining this with the fact that we spend almost a third (29%) of our lives in bed, it’s only natural that a lot of this dead skin ends up on our bed and pillows. ‘Unfortunately, dust mites love to eat dead skin, and are even more tantalised by warm areas – such as your pillow after you’ve spent a night asleep on it – as Dr Karan Raj states.’

Martin advises airing pillows every morning to remove dust and help them keep their shape. He also recommends hanging pillows on a clothesline every month or so on a bright day, as the sunlight can help disinfect and the breeze should dislodge some dust.

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