Forget the monster under your bed, what's living in your pillow?

Posted on Dec 13th 2006 8:00AM by Bethany Sanders

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products

When this news came out last year, I began giving my pillow a wary look. After being diagnosed with asthma, I'd given up my feather bed and ditched my feather pillow for a safer, synthetic version. Suddenly, my decision seemed hasty. Among those synthetic fibers that had promised to keep me from wheezing was a veritable kingdom of fungi setting up house where I laid my head each night. Between the fungi and the dust mites they feed on, my bed was starting to feel a little bit crowded.

So I was happy to read that a new certification standard had been released, labeling certain types of bedding as "asthma-friendly." According to their web site, they'll soon be offering toys, flooring, bedding, even vacuum cleaners that have been scientifically tested and deemed safer for asthmatics. It appears that these products will be easy to find, and hopefully the prices will be competitive with conventional products.

In all honesty, my asthma is not that severe. I don't have to diligently rid my home of dust mites, nor do I even run a HEPA filter in my bedroom as my doctor suggests I do each time I visit. But a fresh, clean, asthma-friendly pillow where my old pillow and all its inhabitants used to be? That may just top my Christmas list.

Source

43 Comment

Tags: allergies, asthma, asthma prevention, AsthmaPrevention, bedding

Around the Web

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Vivi 12-16-2006 @ 9:45PM

Keep writing articles like this and no one will be able to think, breathe, sleep, eat, bathe or think. We all may as well kick the bucket.

Pat 12-16-2006 @ 9:41PM

But just think of the ones in the motels, they are rarely, if ever washed, like the blankets! The very thought of sleeping in a motel makes me so sick! I prefer an RV any day!

Gwenn 12-16-2006 @ 10:05PM

Besides buying an asthma-friendly pillow, the best thing to buy is an allergy cover for your pillow and mattress.

The good covers are pricey (about $20.00), but soft and washable like a pillowcase, will go under your actual pillowcase as if it's not even there, and will last for years. They also travel MUCH easier than dragging a whole pillow along.

You can find them at Bed, Bath & Beyond and other stores such as that.

CORKY BEHL 12-16-2006 @ 10:04PM

JUST PUT YOUR PILLOW IN THE FREEZER FOR 8 HOURS.
YOU CAN PUT DOWN FEATHER PILLOWS IN THE WASHER.
HANG THEM IN THE SUNSHINE, IF POSSIBLE,
AND FLUFF OFTEN
AFTER CLEANING YOUR PILLOWS...
FREEZE THEM,....
FOR ALL GERMS AND MITES TO BE GONE.

Bethany 12-16-2006 @ 10:09PM

I agree, Vivi, that there needs to be balance. Our environment is filled with things that can hurt us, as well as many things that don't. In many cases, we can't do anything about. I tend to read and mentally throw away the info that doesn't affect me, and when I find something useful or that may make me feel healthier, I hang on to it. Pat -- I hadn't considered travel. I may be packing my own pillow from now on!Thanks for the comments!

Jean 12-16-2006 @ 10:56PM

If you think motels are bad, I don't want to tell you about hospitals and rehabs!!!

chris 12-16-2006 @ 10:23PM

yes you may prefer a RV but nobody want s to drive behind you guys on the road and you waste so much of our precious resources.

As for the pillow putting an allergen barrier pillowcase on any pillow reduces the spread of all those things. There are many sites you can gets them on as well as get them at most homestores.

Joycie M 12-16-2006 @ 11:18PM

I always travel with my own pillows and now I am considering taking my own blanket. I often think about those motel blankets and wonder WHEN they get washed, if ever. Thanks for tips here.

Debbie 12-16-2006 @ 11:18PM

I don't care how clean you are or how meticulous a housekeeper you are...we're never gonna get away from things like this. Those critters that aren't visible to the naked eye are everywhere. This is why people get sick from colds, flu, etc. Germs...germs everywhere!! These types of articles are very informative but unless we can get rid of germs, filth, etc, there's no need to get the public all 'riled up.'

Ann 12-16-2006 @ 11:20PM

When I travel, if I'm only going to be in a place for one night, I take the silkey travel "cocoon-thing" you get online at Travel Smith or the other travel catalog. It folds into a 3-inch square, easy to pack. If I will be staying at the same place for a few nights, I just purchase a pillow and blanket at a discount store and chalk it up as part of the price of the trip, and it's very inexpensive, like way less than the price of a meal, I leave them there upon checking out and the maid can have them.
Ann

Sharyn 12-16-2006 @ 11:29PM

I LOVE my feather pillows! I give them a run through the washer on HOT with baking soda added to the water. Synthetic pillows are just gross! They tend to get "that smell" which we refer to as "being all headed up". I don't know what it is but polyester pillows seem to soak up sweat, skins cells, and face oil; no wonder dust bunnies and mites and fungi are having a party! I just tossed one out this morning that looked like the Black Forest. No, really. I washed the poly pillow and forgot it in the washer for 2 days. Yup. Black mold. Sayanara.

Dot 12-17-2006 @ 2:52PM

I take our pillows to the laundrmat a couple times a year, you can either dry them there or bring them home & hang them outside to dry. I use a large washer so they can move around freely & clean good.

Becky 12-16-2006 @ 11:49PM

how about the monsters in your closet? mike wazowski!!! he is a cool monster!

Dee 12-17-2006 @ 12:06AM

A little science please, freezing does NOT kill bacteria, viruses or molds, that is even the method on how they are preserved in the laboratory. Insects and dust mites will not survive freezing but their eggs often will - ever wondered how cockroaches have survived for millions of years?

carol 12-17-2006 @ 12:45AM

Re: hospital pillows. At discharge post surgery 2 days ago from the University of Virginia Medical Center, I was asked by the RN if I wanted to take my pillow home. She said they are discarded after every patient leaves. I'd like to think ALL medical facilities would do the same. As for travel, my pillow goes with me, keep the sheet between you and the blanket, and take a small can of lysol to spray and wipe down counters, tv remotes, light switches, telephones, door handles, bathrooms, etc. Takes only a couple of minutes and kills bacterial and viral germs people leave behind.

Kimberly 12-17-2006 @ 12:46AM

Ok, as soon as I heard about all of this stuff about dust mites and fungi living in your pillow, I started a new routine. I have an all natural disinfectant that I spray on my pillow and matress once a week. While the spray is still wet, I throw my pillow in the dryer on high for about 20 minutes. It's a feather pillow, and although I've seen on here where some ppl actually wash theirs, I've ruined feather pillows like that before. I have a friend that works in a lab and I had my pillow tested after doing this. Guess what! No hidden " critters"! The itching stopped, I breath easier at night and I haven't had a sniffle! I run all of our pillows through the dryer now and spray our mattresses down once a week now. This stuff is awesome! It's amazing what nature provides for us! (by the way , I seriously would not recomend anyone use lysol spray on anything you come in contact with)(very dangerous:has a pesticide in it)

denise 12-17-2006 @ 1:09AM

The silk sleep cocoon from Travel Smith is a good idea except if there's a hotel fire and you can't get out of your bed quick enough because your legs are inside a cocoon. Too scary. I'd rather have the dust mites and the mobility of my legs when I need them.

Jamie 12-17-2006 @ 1:15AM

Freezing does not kill bacteria. I guess this misconception comes from the fact that people freeze food to keep it "fresh". Freezing does not kill the bacteria, just keeps it from doing its bacteria growing-and-breeding lifestyle. That's why we still have to cook food once it's removed from the freezer.

Don 12-17-2006 @ 1:24AM

Toss your pillows in the HOT wash once or twice a month with clothes soap ( I prefer the hypo-allergenic, so no perfumes or dyes), and good old fashioned bleach. I've been doing this for many years, and have noticed a decrease in "funky" bedroom smells and illnesses. I also wash the matress covers with the pillows.

Serly 12-17-2006 @ 2:24AM

Are you bloody kidding me? Its petty things like this that ruffle me. People are worried so much about the germy residue of a pillow that can be washed in the wash machine that we have to come out with new 'asthma-friendly' products? I say its ridiculous! I am an asthmatic myself since I was a kid, and my almost two-year old daughter was just diagnosed with asthma, but I think this is all nonsense.
I grew up in rural New Zealand, dust and mold and pollen everywhere, and I got on perfectly with just inhalers and sort. We had no wash machine to be constantly washing the bed sheets, yet I'm still here.
It bothers me that so many westerners are so worried bout germs and fungi. How can one bother to be so germaphobic when in some countries they got hardly any clean water or food? Imagine all the germs and fungi and parasites dwelling in that crap, they have no choice but to ingest it.