Most people spend nearly a third of their life in bed, yet when it comes to maintaining and cleaning your mattress, this area of the bedroom, and house, often gets overlooked. Sure, you change your sheets from time to time, and clean under and around your bed, but how often do you actually clean your mattress?

Proper maintenance of your mattress is critical for your overall health. Sleeping with dust and mildew can be allergy triggers and make some people quite ill. A lumpy and unsupportive mattress can wreak havoc on your neck and back.

Here are some tips for maintaining and cleaning your mattress.

Wash Your Bedding

Most people benefit when they change their sheets and wash their bedding weekly or bi-weekly. If you have asthma, or are allergic to dust mites, you will want to make sure that you make washing your sheets part of your weekly routine.

Dust mites thrive on dead skin, and the actual allergen is the feces and carcasses of dust mites. Washing your bedding in hot water will kill dust mites and their residue. Bed bugs also die when washed and dried on high heat. Should you happen to get bed bugs in your house, washing your bedding and clothing in hot water and drying them on high heat will kill the little biting buggers.

Keep Your Mattress Dry

Do you sweat in your sleep? Have a child who wets the bed and occasional sleeps with you? Or had the stomach bug circulate through your home? You want to be sure that you are keeping your mattress dry during these unfortunate times.

Using a mattress cover on the mattress and under the sheets, can help protect your mattress from moisture and staining. Don’t forget to wash your mattress pad/cover every few weeks, too, as you will want to be sure that any trapped moisture is removed and that dust mites aren’t running rampant around your mattress cover.   

Removing Urine from Your Bedding

If you happen to have someone who wets the bed, you want to clean your sheets promptly to reduce the chances of staining and to remove the urine smell. There are a couple of things you can do.

Wash your bedding in hot water. Also, add baking soda and white vinegar to your wash cycle. This will lift out the stains and eliminate the urine smell.

If the urine managed to make it through your mattress cover, dissolve 3 tbsp of baking soda in 8 ounces of peroxide. Add one or two drops of liquid dish soap to the mixture. Next, dab or spritz the mixture on the stain. Do not saturate the mattress, as it will not dry properly and potentially cause a mold problem. Let the mixture air dry. Vacuum any remaining residue off your mattress, once dry. You can also use a thick mixture of laundry detergent and water. Spread it like a paste on your mattress. Once dry, scrap away the excess and vacuum the rest.  

Vacuum Your Mattress

While you have your sheets off your bed to launder, vacuum your mattress. Vacuuming will eliminate dust mites and their by-products, reducing the number of allergens in your mattress. Be sure to use the crevice tool on your mattress to get into tight spots and seams that mites love to hide in. Be sure to dust the bed itself off, as well.

Properly Supported Mattress

If you have a big hump in the middle of your mattress, between where you and your partner sleep, it may be time to reevaluate the amount of support your mattress has and how well the mattress is supporting you.

Make sure that you have a good box spring, one free of divots and holes. Sometimes the supports will weaken, which will weaken the overall support of your mattress.

Also, be sure that your bed has center supports. If you have a queen or king size mattress, you will need to have center supports in your mattress frame. Otherwise mattress sagging can occur.

A properly cared for and supported mattress can help maintain your overall health, as well as the life of your mattress. Be sure to clean your bedding on a weekly basis, vacuum your mattress, and check the support of the box spring and center supports. Your body will thank you.  For more info on mattresses click here.