We spend a large chunk of our time lounging on our beds. An essential household item, to ensure you get a good night’s sleep, you need a good mattress, and a good mattress does not come cheap. When buying a bed, you are making an investment and therefore will expect it to last you years. Although it’s designed to stay intact for approximately 5 to 10 years, many factors contribute to reducing a mattress’s lifespan, and one major factor is maintenance.
If you fail to care for your mattress, it will not last you as long as you had anticipated. Following are 6 ways in which you can extend and improve the life of your mattress.
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Mattress Cover
Mattress covers make a huge difference. Thin with stretchable sides and a design that fits the mattress like a glove, they are available in a variety of materials including natural and synthetic. Commonly used fabrics include cotton, polyester, bamboo, and latex. For waterproof fabric options, you can also use vinyl or plastic. Mattress covers protect your mattress from dirt, spills, and cuts. Protecting the fibers of the mattress is what makes a real difference in its durability. They also prevent the mattress from getting worn out due to body movement.
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Regular Cleaning
Both the bedding and mattresses must be cleaned regularly. Our bodies constantly secrete oils that get rubbed off on the sheets whether we like it or not. These can soak into your mattress over time and eventually destroy mattress fibers. This is why washing your sheets once a week is crucial and also because bacteria inhabit everything and over time, as things get dirty, so does the increase in bacteria count. Since the bedsheets are in direct contact with the skin, they can lead to issues like infections, irritation, and rashes.
Cleaning a mattress is something many do not believe in, but it is absolutely necessary. Dust is capable of quite literally eating your mattress’s fabric as the dust has particles with sharp edges and are hard like glass. Over time, as dust accumulates, the fabric gets destroyed. Make sure to vacuum your mattress once in a month. Use attachments designed for cleaning upholstery. Also, prevent eating in bed as it will give way to insects and microorganisms that might creep into your mattress fibers. If you do, clean up immediately afterward.
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Mattress Pad
A mattress pad is like an insurance policy except for your mattress. We are all human beings, and accidents can happen to anyone so why take the risk? Unlike mattress covers, mattress pads are thicker and serve as a protective layer on top of the mattress. Our body fluids manage to leach into the mattress despite having bedsheets and mattress covers on. Mattress pads prevent these fluids from making way into the mattress fibers especially when used with a thin protector. Make sure to wash them regularly and your mattress with stay protected.
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Rotate Every Three Months
Rotating your mattress every three months has been studied to increase your mattress’s average lifespan significantly. Our body weight puts pressure on the mattress’s internal structure, and these are prone to deformity over time. If you do not rotate your mattress, it will continue to get deformed in the same places. Rotation, however, ensures that you are distributing your weight equally in different areas thereby preventing the chances of deformity in one specific area.
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Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are the devil and now are not just a finding in cheap hotels or motels but in fact in some of the fanciest resorts and hotels in the world. Be careful of bed bugs and make sure to check for bed bug eggs, nymphs as well as adults because they can very easily infest your mattress. Once infested, these bed bugs can kill your mattress way before it was meant to. Always check for bugs now and then using a flashlight. Typically found in the seams of pillows, behind pictures, bed boards as well as in furniture near your bed, make sure to be particularly wary of these spots. This tip is especially useful when you are traveling as these insects move and can get easily transferred from one place to another. Always check your hotel beds for any signs and if you find any, change rooms immediately.
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Pet Precautions
Pets are adorable, and we all love them, but one thing we all need to be careful of is letting pets on our beds. Pets are capable of damaging your mattress quite easily provided you do not take the necessary precautions. Ig you have a pet, make sure to have a mattress cover, a mattress pad and clean your bedding more often. Waterproof mattress covers are particularly helpful in this scenario. Animal fluids are even more damaging than human fluids, so it is prudent to take all the precautions you need to.
Good sleep starts with a good mattress. Make sure yours lasts a long time with the help of these tricks.
