Why you should wash your pajamas every week

For those of you who think now, who’s wearing their pajamas for more than a week? More people than you think. A British study of 2,500 people between the ages of 18 and 30 shows that the average man wears his pajamas for 14 nights. Women make it even more colorful and even wear their pajamas or nightgowns for 17 days. Half of the men and more than 40 percent of the women use the so-called sniff test to see whether the nightwear can last another night: as long as the garment does not smell bad, it is not thrown in the laundry basket. Of course, a bad smell is a giveaway that the pajamas deserve a wash, but there are plenty of reasons not to just go by the smell. You should actually wash your pajamas every week and even more often in the summer; think two to three times a week.

Bladder infection from dirty pajamas

You lose dead skin cells all day long and that doesn’t stop when you’re in bed. And because your pajamas are close to the skin, all those skin cells collect there and start to heat up. Those cells contain all kinds of micro-organisms that can cause infections, especially if you have a scrape, for example. Staphylococcus aureus, for example, is a bacterium that occurs in many people on the skin and in the nose. These staphylococci can cause a variety of infections; from a superficial skin infection to a bloodstream infection. And it could be worse: Nighttime flatulence can spread the E.Coli bacteria in your pajama bottoms. Although this intestinal bacterium does not cause disease under normal circumstances, it is the most common cause of urinary tract infections. So you can get a bladder infection through your dirty pajamas. Certain variants of that E.coli bacterium can also cause gastrointestinal complaints, sometimes with serious additional symptoms. Escherichia coli (E.coli) is a family of Enterobacteriacae and can cause infections both inside and outside the gut, especially if you have a low resistance. Don’t think it won’t happen to you, for every man is whining; an average of about fifteen a day.

Couples should wash more often

The longer you delay washing your nightwear, the more bacteria and the greater the risk of skin and bladder infections. To prevent this, British hygiene expert Sally Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine advises singles to wash their pajamas or nightgown every week. If you have a partner with whom you share the bed, it is even advisable to change your nightwear at least three times a week or to throw them in the washing machine. After all, you then share all kinds of bacteria, fungi and sweat with each other. That night sweats is anyway a reason to throw your pajamas in the washing machine more often, especially in summer. “Your body sheds 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells every hour. See how many of those end up in your pajamas in just one week,” Bloomfield said in a statement. The Guardian.

According to Bloomfield, there is another reason to wash your pajamas every week: the longer you delay the wash, the less clean it becomes. The smell of sweat is becoming increasingly difficult to get out and bacteria and fungi have also settled deeper in the fibres. Read the label carefully before washing, because although it is tempting to wash nightwear at 60˚, not all pajamas can stand it. Cotton, for example, will shrink at that temperature and flannel also does not like too high temperatures.

Not in the mood for so much extra laundry? Then consider leaving your nightwear off completely. That is healthier than you think.