Question 1

How can anti-dust mite beddings protective covers improve asthma and nasal allergies?

Answer

According to some studies, over 80% and 85% allergy and asthma sufferers are allergic to dust mites and their excrement. On average, people spend about 1/3 of their time in bed. Dust mites enjoy living in shaded, warm and humid areas, feeding off dead skin to survive and reproduce. A mattress fulfils all the criteria. Firstly, it is too thick for light to penetrate. Secondly, our body temperature, sweat and dead skin will provide food and an optimal temperature for dust mites to thrive and multiply. According to AAFA (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America), an adult sheds a daily average of 1.5 grams of dead skin. This is enough to feed one million dust mites. Other study shows that each mattress has an average of two million dust mites. Therefore, if you solely rely on a vacuum to remove the dust (and dust mites) on your mattress, you will never fully eradicate them. They will still get through your bed sheets and pillowcase and constantly surround you. When using anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, wrapping the mattress at 360 degrees not only separates us with dust mites and their excrement, but it also reduces the amount of dead skin on our mattress and pillows. This means that dust mites will starve to death and no longer reproduce. When our surrounding allergen has been drastically reduced for 6-8 hours during sleep, it is certain that our allergies will get improved.

Question 2

What rules and regulations are there for the anti-dust mite beddings protective covers to be approved?

Answer

According to the guidelines of the Hong Kong Consumer Council, anti-dust mite beddings protective covers must completely (360 degrees) wrap around the mattress or pillows and be sealed off with a concealable zipper. To prevent over-stretching or damaging the beddings protective covers, dimensions must be slightly bigger than the mattress or pillows. Since dust mites and their excrement may be as small as 100 microns and 10 microns, the fabric for the beddings protective covers must be less than 10 microns to effectively block off allergy stimuli. Even if our usual bedsheets have a very high number of counts, it still cannot block the dust mites as the threads are not secure and will shift when we move around during our sleep. Hence, dust mites can crawl out between the thread-gaps. Furthermore, bedsheets only cover the surface and the sides of the mattress. Dust mites are micro-organisms that will constantly travel around. If the bottom of the mattress is not covered, dust mites can crawl out from the bottom and onto the surface, not helping much to improve your allergy problems.

Question 3

After using anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, will this completely eradicate all dust mites?

Apart from your mattress and pillows, dust mites can reside in other places such as curtains, cushions, carpets or stuffed toys. Then you may ask, why should I use anti-dust mite beddings protective covers if it cannot totally eliminate all dust mite in my bedroom? The answer is simple! We are in contact with our bed for approximately 6-8 hours every day, allergens in bed greatly increase the chances of having an allergic reaction. Therefore, doctors recommend using anti- dust mite beddings protective covers to minimise contact with allergens.

Question 4

Do I still need bedsheets, pillowcases or quilts when using anti-dust mite beddings protective covers?

Frequent cleaning of anti-dust mite beddings protective covers may cause the fabric to loosen and decrease the effect of blocking dust mites. Hence, the Hong Kong Consumer Council deems anti-dust mite beddings protective covers unsuitable for frequent washing. Therefore, we recommend adding bedsheets and pillowcases on top of the beddings protective covers so users can wash them weekly and maintain a good hygiene.

Question 5

Is one set of anti-dust mite beddings protective covers enough?

Dust mites reproduce at an alarming speed, with an adult female laying 2-3 eggs each day. Therefore, when you are cleaning your beddings protective covers, you must immediately replace another set of beddings protective covers to prevent dust mites from reproducing. Only when you consistently use anti-dust mite beddings protective covers will the number of dust mites residing in your mattress drastically decrease.

Question 6

How can I avoid dust mites and lower the risk of having an allergic reaction during travel?

In order to kill bacteria, you may take your pillows and blankets outside to dry under the sun or use a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust on the mattress. However, what can you do for the hotel’s mattresses, blankets and pillows which may have accumulated large amounts of dead skin and dust mites? If you are highly allergic to dust mites, we recommend bringing your own anti-dust mite beddings protective covers (travel set). Although they may not completely cover the entire mattress, they can provide some protection and minimise your contact with allergens.

Question 7

After using anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, do the mattress and pillow need vacuuming?

Before putting on the anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, we recommend using a vacuum cleaner to completely remove the dust and particles on the mattress / pillow surface (e.g. our dead skin), this can help to reduce the number of dust mites and their allergens. When changing the beddings protective covers, settled dust particles, dead dust mites and their excrement may be exposed to the air and travel to the mattress or pillows, further stimulating an allergic reaction. Therefore, users must vacuum the surface of the mattress and pillows. We recommend using a vacuum cleaner head that has not been used on floors to ensure good hygiene when vacuuming beddings. Furthermore, if you are a person with severe allergies, we recommend using a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to prevent allergy stimuli from escaping and entering the surroundings again.

Question 8

After using anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, do I still need to vacuum the bed daily?

Dust travels everywhere. Therefore, the bed still needs to be vacuumed daily to remove dust, animal hair, pollen and other stimuli. When vacuuming the bedding, start with a low intensity and slowly increase to prevent the bedding from getting damaged. This particularly applies to the anti-dust mite beddings protective covers, as too much stretching will affect the fabric density and the effectiveness of blocking the dust-mites.

Question 9

What are anti-dust mite beddings protective covers?

Anti-dust mite beddings protective covers are used for mattresses, pillows and quilts to prevent dust mites from passing through with the purpose of reducing the user’s allergy problems. Anti-dust mite beddings protective covers can be classified into two types: chemical and physical. The first type is where chemicals (e.g. biocides) are added into the fabric to prevent dust mites from reproducing. However, for people with respiratory or skin allergies, regular contact with these chemicals may further intensify their allergies. For the second type, a highly dense fabric is used to prevent dust mites from escaping, cutting off their food supply and starving them.