Do you wake up still feeling tired? Does part of your morning routine include nasal congestion, sore throat, and headaches? Is your bedroom making you sick? Read on to find the things in your bedroom that are making you sick and what you can do about it.
Do you wake up with nasal congestion and/or a sore throat every morning? Are headaches a daily issue for you?
If you wake up feeling more tired than you did when you went to bed, your bedroom might be to blame.
According to studies conducted on allergens, a large percentage of American homes usually test positive for indoor allergens. These allergens include dust, mold, or pet dander, with the most common being dust mites. It’s more common for these allergens to appear in the bedroom.
So is your bedroom making you sick? And what can you do about it?
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Pillows can build up a lot of bacteria, mold spores, and dust mites rather quickly. These can lead to allergy symptoms such as congestion, headache, and a sore throat. If your pillow is not washable, it should be replaced at least once a year. To protect your pillow, use an anti-allergy cover, and change the pillowcase every few days.
Pillows, over time, lose their shape and support, which causes your head to be out of alignment with your spine. This can leave you with headaches and stiff necks or sore shoulders. How do you know when it’s time for a new pillow? Fold your pillow in half and let it go. If it doesn’t spring back to its original shape, it’s time to get a new one.
I know this is a tough one, but the animals need to be in their own beds. Not only can they interrupt your sleep (my cat likes to sleep on my head!), their fur is full of dander, dust, pollen, bacteria, and mold spores. Place their bed beside yours and they’ll still feel safe and comfortable as long as you’re in the room.
It’s true that houseplants help purify the air and are good to have around the home. However, if you overwater them, their soil may hold in mold spores that can trigger allergic symptoms, especially in people susceptible to asthma or airborne allergies. Only water houseplants when the top of the soil is dry and never leave them sitting in standing water.
I love my candles and tend to burn them more often in fall and winter. However, paraffin candles can release harmful chemicals (benzene and toluene) as they burn. Look for soy or beeswax candles instead as they are much safer for burning.
Of course, we want our bedrooms to be clean, but a lot of store-bought cleaning products contain harmful chemicals and irritating ingredients. Use natural cleaning products that are free from these chemicals, or make your own cleaning products to get your bedroom sparkling clean.
Never opening a window in your bedroom means you’re sealing in a ton of pollutants, which include dust, pollen, and dander. Also, off-gassing from paint, furniture, carpets, as well as chemicals from toiletries like deodorant, nail polish, and hairspray.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Open the window and let the fresh air in!
We’ve already discussed the nasty things your mattress is housing and how to clean it. Regularly cleaning your mattress as well as protecting it with a cover will be a great benefit to your health. A good mattress cover should protect it from dust mites, fluids, dirt, and other small particles.
Carpet is so nice to have, especially in the bedroom. It’s soft on bare feet, warm, and acts as a sound barrier. The downside to carpet is that it holds on to every little piece of dust, dirt, pollen, and pet dander. Not to mention the grime from your shoes and feet. You should vacuum your carpet weekly and shampoo it every few months. However, if your allergies are severe consider installing wood or laminate flooring instead because it’s much easy to keep clean.
If you run a humidifier in your bedroom, remember to change the water daily and clean the humidifier thoroughly once a week. Not doing this can cause mold to grow inside the humidifier, causing allergy-like symptoms.
Here’s a tough one! You need to use the vacuum cleaner to vacuum up all the dust bunnies. However, if you’re using a vacuum without a HEPA filter, more than likely everything you’re vacuuming up is coming right back out into the air. And if your vacuum uses bags, make sure they are made from HEPA materials, too.
Do you wake up feeling more tired than when you went to bed? Do you wake up with a sore throat or congestion? Are you stiff or sore when you get out of bed? Perhaps your bedroom is making you sick!
Looking for the best ways to keep your bedroom clean? I recommend reading these posts next:
Clean Your Bedroom in Just 15 Minutes
Deep Clean Your Master Bedroom
Cleaning Your Mattress the Right Way
11 Things You’re Forgetting to Clean in Your Bedroom
Natural Ways to Make Your Bedroom Smell Clean and Amazing
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I often wake up with congestion and feeling tired and groggy. I had wondered if it was something to do with the environment in my room. Thank you for this list, it's given me some ideas of things to try, I'll see if they make a difference!
I hope some of these tips help and you start feeling better when you wake up! :)
This is ever so relevant especially in these times, Michelle. I've stopped putting down rugs for the last two months. We have dogs and with them shedding in summer , I'll have to wash/vaccum the rugs every day. With the pandemic, it makes sense to keep the house clear of things that might lead to coughs, colds and congestion.
Sometimes it's just easier to go without the rugs than to keep washing them constantly. We do have to be a lot more careful about our health right now, I agree. Thank you so much for reading! :)
Great tips, Michelle! I have allergies, so I do most of these things and they really do make a difference. Although, I think I need to check out your clean your mattress post...haven't done that one in a while! ?
Thank you so much! I'm glad that doing these things has helped your allergies. I know how terrible allergies can be. :)
I dread to think what my bedroom is doing to me! ? Definitely worth checking corners for mould and opening a window as you say. I do wonder whether opening the window (which I admittedly only really do in the warmer weather as my room is so cold most of the time) is also causing problems. Need to clean around the window, the hinges and the outer ledge too I think. I hadn't thought about soy or beeswax candles before either. Lots of great things to consider, really good post and perfect timing for some spring cleaning!
Caz xx
I think we miss cleaning some of these things because they're just not easy to see. I'm glad you found the tips helpful! Thank you for reading! :)
Yes oh my gosh! And then I recently read what mattresses were actually MADE OF! So we recently bought a toxic free and eco friendly mattress!
I honestly had no idea they even made those! I'll have to look into that! Thanks for the tip! :)
And I blamed it all on allergies!
:D It might just be your bedroom!
It’s funny because I just sent for a very expensive filter for the furnace because with the grandkids here there is so much more dust.
I hope it helps! Funny how much dust kids can stir up. :D
I have severe allergies and your post covers all the problems expertyly. Dust is my enemy to say the least.
I hope these tips help! Allergies are no fun.
Thanks so much for sharing this information Michelle!!
I Love you all Everyone through Christ-MESSIAH Jesus-Yeshua, because HE LOVED ?? EVERYONE FIRST!!
Love ? Always and Shalom ( Peace ), YSIC \o/
Kristi Ann
You're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful! I hope you have a blessed day! :)
Awesome post! I have a Rainbow vacuum cleaner that pulls so much crude out of my carpets that would look like clean carpets. It’s an expensive option but cuts down on all the things you mentioned.
Thank you! Thanks for the tip! I'll have to check into one of those! :)
Yeah they are expensive but I have had mine for 10 years and it still kicks butt!
This post was so good, Michelle. My sister and I share a room and she has the worst allergies but we haven't found the trigger yet. Most times she wakes up with a stuffy nose and her mornings are terrible. These are some great tips :)
Thank you! I'm sorry your sister has such terrible allergies. They are no fun. My daughter used to be the same way. I'm glad you found these tips helpful!
I hope your daughter's has gotten better now
Have a nice day :D