Clean the Duvet!
I have just finished an article on cleaning duvets that was in part inspired on a study reported in the BBC on such a large percentage of Britons that sleep under dirty duvets. Many had not been cleaned in 6 months and some had not been cleaned in over 10 years. One was so bad that there was around 20,000 live dust mites and a measurable amount of dried skin, dust mite feces and other allergens.
Yuck!
Clean the duvets! So, the article really talked about the care and cleaning of a duvet or duvet cover primarily coming from the standpoint that if you start out with an allergen proof duvet cover that is a good start, but you should still clean the duvet cover regularly. You should still clean your duvet though. Perhaps not as frequently as your duvet cover, but it should still get some attention.
As I’ve mentioned in that and other articles essential oils added to the wash can be effective at killing off dust mites. Oils such as eucalyptus, pine oil, peppermint oil all have been shown to kill off dust mites. Unfortunately their carcasses and feces need to be “beat” out of a quilt or duvet. The cover may be treated the same way as well to make sure that you have beat out as much of the dust mite debris as possible.
So make it a regular schedule and clean your duvet! Clean your duvet cover! Then you’ll be less likely to have some of the allergy symptoms, rhinitis, asthma symptoms and eczema that dust mites can aggravate.
