Amid recent news that a ‘Pollen bomb’ is hitting the UK in full force and hay fever affecting 1 in 5 people, many are looking for solutions to prevent those dreaded symptoms from disrupting our precious sleep.
With this in mind, here are some bedroom cleaning hacks to help hay fever sufferers regain a good night’s sleep.
Top 10 cleaning hacks to improve sleep during hay fever season
- Dry your clothes inside
Some of your washing habits might need changing when dealing with hay fever symptoms. After doing your laundry, avoid drying your clothes and your bedsheets outside in the fresh air where pollen and dust can collect on them. Instead, dry them in a tumble dryer or hang them up inside.
- Make your own dust-repellant spray
Consider mixing the following ingredients to create a homemade dusting spray that will keep your surfaces cleaner for longer:
- ½ cup of water (125ml)
- ¼ cup of vinegar (60ml)
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- A few drops of essential oil of your choosing to give your spray the perfect scent (remember to check if it’s safe for pets!)
Once sprayed, wipe the surface with a clean cloth. This dust-repellant spray will help keep dust and pollen away from your bedroom’s surfaces for longer.
- Vacuum your mattress and wash your bedsheets EVERY week
Mattressonline say you should vacuum your mattress weekly to make sure that absolutely no trace of allergens are left to haunt your dreams. And don’t forget to flip it to vacuum both sides. Those battling hay fever should also wash their bedding once a week, giving special attention to pillow covers during this time of the year.
- Wash your hair before going to bed
Spending time outside in the glorious sun can also come with the risk of pollen getting stuck to your hair and, as such, your pillowcase. The best way to avoid opening your bedroom door to pollen is to wash that pollen from your hair with shampoo every evening.
- Vacuum TWICE a week and use this trick
It’s a good habit to vacuum at least twice a week, especially for rooms covered in carpets, where dust can deposit very easily. But make sure you’re cleaning the WHOLE bedroom, not just the floors. These are some of the areas that people tend to forget about:
- Ceilings and walls;
- Light fixtures;
- Shelves and tops of cabinets;
- Curtains and blinds;
- Flat surfaces.
Using a criss-cross pattern while vacuuming your bedroom’s carpets will also help to improve your quality of sleep during hay fever season. Moving the vacuum in different directions will ensure you are getting deeper into the fibres of the carpet to pick up more pollen.
- Try damp dusting
When dusting, always choose a damp cloth over a dry one. The dry one will allow the pollen and the dust that you’ve just removed from the surface to float around the bedroom and deposit somewhere else. Instead, if you’re using a damp cloth, the pollen will stick to it, and you will truly have got rid of it for good!
- Use a pair of tongs to clean your blinds
Pollen can deposit on the blinds in your bedroom, as they stand so close to the windows. Grab a pair of tongs, wrap them in a damp microfiber cloth sprayed with cleaning product and secure it in place with elastic bands or clips. Next, grip the blinds lightly and slide the tongs down, to clean both sides of the blinds at once, making your dusting process less time-consuming and 100% efficient!
- Get creative and use everyday objects to reach tight spaces
Sometimes it might be challenging to clean the whole room because of areas that are more troublesome to reach. Try using a paintbrush, a toothbrush or even a ruler to be 100% certain that you’ve cleaned every part of your bedroom and that no trace of pollen is left to ruin your sleep.
For example, by wrapping a cloth around a ruler or a kitchen spatula, you can easily reach tight spaces under appliances and furniture. A paintbrush can help remove the dust from the skirting or from any crack in the floor. You can also get creative and find the objects and utensils that work best for your bedroom!
- Mattress and pillow protectors are your best friends
Consider purchasing an anti-allergy mattress and pillow protector if you haven’t already, and make sure to wash them every one or two weeks with the rest of your bedding. This will ensure that any residual pollen on the mattress and the pillows won’t be able to reach your bedsheets, improving your sleep quality significantly.
- Don’t sleep with your pet
A pet can be your best friend, but not during hay fever season. Living with a pet will make it a lot more difficult for you to take control of the pollen infiltration in your home, as it will often stick to their fur. For this reason, try to hang out with your pets outside the bedroom and avoid sleeping with them to alleviate your hay fever symptoms. Tough, we know.
