We spend a third of our lives in bed and rely heavily on that time to rest and recuperate fully for the next day. Comfortable and peaceful as it may seem, we are blissfully ignorant of the frenzy of activity going on but a few centimetres away! Below are some of the ingredients in the mattress cocktail!

Average mattress under a microscope	Dead and decaying mites turn into harmful proteins	Spores can grow inside the mattress

Mites
Today, mattresses are an ideal environment for dust mites, at room temperatures of more than 20 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) and a relative humidity of 60 - 80%. Bacteria infested flakes of our dry skin offer mites a rich source of food. Their reproductive rate is very high and natural enemies, such as predatory mites, are now extinct. Up to 2,500 mites have been counted in one gram of dust. That means there are up to two million mites in one double size mattress!! This throng produces a corresponding amount of guanine containing mite excrement. This is a major cause of allergies and related problems e.g. asthma, bronchitis, inflammation of the mucous membranes, reddening of the eyes and itching. With every movement of the body in bed, dust and mite excrement are churned up. The mattress acts as a bellows, blowing dirt into mouth, nose, eyes and onto the skin.

Bacteria
Several species of the tiny one celled life forms, often called bacilli, cause disease. In some cases they are even resistant to antibiotics.

Viruses
Without exception, the members of this class of micro organisms are pathogens which can cause infections, fever and other symptoms. Some types of viruses have become much more aggressive in the past several decades.

Spores
Spores spread in the form of fungi. They can cause diseases, in particular a fungal infection of the skin, which can be hard to treat.

Flakes of Dry Skin
The human body sheds as much as 1.5g of dry skin flakes per day. That is more than one pound every year! People with psoriasis lose many times more. A large amount of this dry skin ends up in the mattress and grows bacteria, becoming rancid and causing an unpleasant rancid odour. That typical bedroom odour!

Dust Particles
Up to several pounds in a single mattress, dust particles can be as small as 1 to 20 microns. Dust is a mixture of organic and inorganic particles, flakes of dry skin, salt from perspiration, mite excrement, etc., and is a carrier of mite excrement and bacteria.

The Facts

• We shed 10,000 million scales (approx. 1.5 grams) of bacteria laden skin each day, most end up in our mattresses.
• Dust mites produce 200 times their body weight in excrement during their normal life span.
• Dust mites spread rapidly. A female dust mite lays 300 eggs.
• They can go 3 months without food.
• The life cycle from egg to adult is about one month with the adult living an additional one to three months.
• The wheeze-inducing proteins are digestive juices from the mite gut which are quite potent.
• An average person sheds about 1.5 grams of skin a day (approximately 0.3-0.45 kg per year), which is enough to feed roughly a million dust mites.