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Sure Signs Your Home Has Dust Mites (Yikes) & How To Get Rid Of Them
There are some times in life when the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't apply—like when you lose a giant spider in your car or have a giant basket of laundry in your closet waiting to be washed. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there and causing stress.
Dust mites definitely fall into this category. These microscopic insectlike species belong to the arachnid family, along with spiders and ticks. According to the American Lung Association, "Roughly four of five homes in the United States have dust mite allergens in at least one bed." And Standard Health Care states that a single bed can contain over one million of these tiny dust dwellers.
Here's why we should all be focusing on getting these invisible creatures out of our homes and how to get started.
Are dust mites harmful?
Typically, dust mites themselves aren't a health hazard and won't transmit diseases or bite us like bedbugs do. The mini pests' microscopic feces and body fragments are what can contribute to health issues1.
These particles can be as small as 5 to 20 micrometers (μm). A micron is a unit of length equal to one-millionth of a meter, or 1/26,000 of an inch. Most humans can't see anything smaller than 40 microns in size without the aid of magnification instruments like microscopes. To put it into better perspective, the eye of a needle, for instance, is 1,230 microns.
When these tiny particles are disturbed, they become airborne, and we inhale them. When we breathe them in, our immune system will tag them as foreign invaders, prompting a response to eliminate them immediately. This can lead to allergy-like symptoms such as:
- Sneezing
- Coughing
- Itchy and watery eyes
- Congestion
- Facial pain and pressure
- Difficulty breathing
- Trouble sleeping
- Swollen eyes or dark circles underneath eyes
Every person responds differently to exposure, so symptoms vary from case to case. While someone may develop a myriad of symptoms, another person in the same home may not react at all.
What causes dust mites in a house?
Dust mites thrive on organic matter (particularly skin cells and pet dander) that can collect in our bedding and other porous materials that have empty pockets of space within their structure. Some of our homes' most common porous materials include:
- Carpets
- Cloth furniture
- Bedding
- Mattresses
- Curtains
- Blankets
- Clothing
- Pet beds
- Pillows
- Stuffed animals
As for moisture, dust mites do not drink water but absorb it from their surroundings. So, high humidity can also promote dust mites in a home.
While a dust mite may live for only two to three months, dust mite allergen particles will remain behind and continue to cause symptoms even after the mite that produced them has died, so preventing these mites in the first place is important.
How to prevent dust mites
The best way to eliminate as many dust mites from our homes as possible is to focus on cleaning and, as you might have guessed, reducing dust! Here are some steps to add to your cleaning routine to keep mites away:
- Keep indoor humidity between 35 and 50%, using a hygrometer to monitor levels in real time.
- Use mattress and pillow protectors, and wash them regularly.
- Wash all bedding and blankets once a week in hot water to eliminate microscopic particles.
- Wash pillows if they're machine-washable.
- Use a HEPA vacuum regularly on your mattress surface.
- Ensure that mattresses and other porous materials remain dry.
- Replacing porous materials like cloth furniture and curtains with harder, cleanable surfaces.
- Reduce clutter so that there are fewer surfaces for dust to collect on.
- Change air filters on time and upgrade to the highest-rated MERV filter the HVAC unit can handle.
- Opt for machine-washable fabrics at home.
- Replace carpeting with cleanable hard flooring.
- Use damp microfiber cloths and a closed-system HEPA vacuum cleaner for dusting the home.
- Clean the home regularly with nontoxic products.
Collectively, these will help reduce not only dust mites but also any other contaminants that our dust may harbor.
The takeaway
The average person takes around 20,000 breaths daily. The last thing we want is to breathe in all sorts of aggravating microscopic particles with each one. Taking time to prevent dust mites at home is essential to helping create an environment that supports our health and happiness.
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