Is there any reason, beyond the psychological, that we sleep better in newly laundered sheets?
Dunno. In my own experience, the combination of bathing just before bedtime and sliding between clean sheets usually kept me awake. No idea why.
They are just more comfortable. Also more likely to be free of allergens like pollen, etc.
Less sticky.
Also, if you’re slack about making your bed, when they’re freshly laundered you don’t twist up and find the sheets have untucked from the end and all. They’re more orderly.
For me, I sleep better when I’m not thinking “Gotta wash these sheets, they’re so gross!” (I, uh, haven’t washed them in a while. I mean a long while. I mean you’d slap me.)
This is something I’ve always wondered. Perhaps Aromatherapy has something to do with it. When we wash them, they have that dryer-fresh scent we’ve been conditioned to think of as “clean.” Also, I think the warmth has something to do with it. When we’re enveloped in warmth, we are more, for lack of a better word, cozy.
Therefore, subconsciously, when we climb into fresh-from-the-dryer bedsheets, we’re thinking “womb-like warmth accented by clean, comforting smells? Sounds like time to relax… a lot!”
I’ve never noticed any difference.
If I’m not wearing jammies, perfectly clean sheets protect my Delicate Flower Princess skin from the [del]unspeakable horrors[/del] almost subconscious irritation of the ordinary household grit that gets in there after a day or two.
If I’m wearing jammies, I don’t notice the difference.
The only times I’ve been medically ordered to change the sheets daily were when I had pink-eye and when my son had spinal fusion surgery. In other words, when there was infection or a risk of infection. That tells me that, yes, technically there is more opportunistic infection causing bacteria on dirty sheets, but also that healthy intact skin can cope with it just fine.
If you are allergic to dust mites, clean bedding will make a noticeable difference in how well you sleep. This will be especially noticeable if you clean a comforter that hadn’t been cleaned in a while. The effect won’t last long, though.
I honestly do not sleep well the night after I have washed my sheets. I prefer my sheets to smell like me.
I didn’t realize this made a difference until relatively recently. I actually find that sheets that smell of scented laundry soap make it harder for me to get a good night’s sleep, but if washed with out scents I find that it’s generally conducive to good sleep.
My experience is that the combination of the grit and stuff that gets in the sheets over time and the accumulation of body smells tend to cause problems. Initially the smell from my healthy clean body is actually a nice thing and doesn’t hurt my sleep. As it gets stronger and goes off it becomes a net minus. If I’m unusually sweaty or I’m sick or otherwise unhealthy then the sheets need to be laundered sooner. I generally find that sleeping in unhealthy sweat generally prolongs the unhealthyness and I sleep badly. I can kind of understand why in the past people thought that disease was caused by “bad airs”.
I like the idea of clean sheets and the satisfaction of having finally found the energy to change the bed. But frankly I am more comfortable crawling into a bed that’s already been broken in, so to speak.
“So that’s one ‘tuck’, one ‘no-tuck’!”
not only am i allergic to dust mites, (well actually a protein in their fecal matter) but i have always had a dislike of used or warm bedding, at home i always change sheets every week, when i go out of town or sleep anywhere other than home,i always use an allersac travel sheet. just the thought of sleeping on sheets that someone other than my boyfriend , used, totally grosses me out