Sources of Mold: Your Pillow

Posted by Nabi White on 8/14/2020 to

In many well-documented studies, researchers have discovered that common breeding ground for molds within the home can be where we lay our heads at the end of the day, our pillows. Molds in the Aspergillus family have been found to thrive on bed pillows as they provide a breeding ground for issues that can effect our health. Remember molds are opportunists, looking for the right conditions to be present for they can do their work, and unfortunately humans often, but unwittingly, aid molds in their process. Molds often need three things to thrive, and ideal temperature, and ideal humidity, and a source of food. As we catch up on our beauty sleep, our bodies create heat, that heat can lead to moisture from sweat, and we continually shed skin flakes at every moment day and night. Everything a growing mold needs.

To help reduce mold in our pillows, you’ll want to do a few things:

1. First, you’ll want to shower often. This will help remove mold spores from your hands, hair, and face, which you cannot then transport to a different part of the house only to bring it back into your bedroom.

2. Second, you’ll want to wash you pillow cases often.

3. Third, you’ll want to wash your pillows often, and preferably with a bleach on the hottest water setting.

4. Lastly, you’ll want to replace your pillows periodically, and bag them before you walk them out of the room to prevent dislodging and spreading spores in areas between the room and the trash.

Molds are everywhere and are often unavoidable, however if we know where sources of mold exist within our home environments, and we know how to remove those sources from the environment, it is a significant start to reducing the potential volume of mold and spores we are exposed to overall for a safer and cleaner environment.

Sources of Mold: Your Pillow

World Air Quality

Covid-19 Dashboard

Air: Why We Should Care