Mattress protectors help prevent allergens, dust mites and (gulp) bed bugs from infiltrating your mattress, and are machine-washable to provide easy clean-up in the event of profuse sweating or accidents in the night. Don't just call it a night after spending hard-earned ducats on a mattress — sleep soundly knowing your investment is covered with one of these high-quality mattress protectors. The Best Mattresses to Ensure More Satisfying Shut-Eye 10 Crisp White Duvet Covers For Sweet Slumbering Cuddle Up: Kids Dream BIG in Bedding This Cool 50 Beautiful Bedroom Decor Ideas to Create a Serene Sleep Space 20 Bed Pillows to Get the Best Sleep Possible 15 High-Quality Bed Sheets You'll Be Dreaming About All Day 13 Dorm Bedding Picks to Cozy Up Your On-Campus Home 2017 Beauty Tips and Products 11 Silk Pillowcases for Every Sleeping Beauty 13 Upholstered Headboards for Easy Bedroom Elegance 9 Quality Quilts That Make for Lovely Layering
For more than two years, Theresa Lansberry has fought a daily battle against household dust. Ever since doctors diagnosed her husband and, later, her oldest daughter, with allergic asthma triggered by dust mites, she has waged war against the millions of microscopic, spider-like creatures that inhabit the cozy corners of most homes. She ripped out carpets and replaced them with wood. She banned certain stuffed animals and relegated others to a weekly hot-water wash with mite-killing soap. She spent time, energy and money on dozens of other interventions aimed at keeping life-threatening asthma attacks at bay. “I’ve bought the steam cleaners and the mattress covers and I don’t use curtains in our bedroom,” says Lansberry, 33, a mother of six from Peoria, Ill. Until now, Lansberry thought she was winning. But a new review of studies released this week suggests that she and others affected by asthma might as well give up the fight. In 54 trials involving more than 3,000 patients, the most widely recommended treatments to reduce dust mites had no effect on the symptoms of asthma sufferers, researchers in Denmark found.
Dust mites are tiny organisms that thrive in the company of humans, feasting on dead skin cells and nesting in soft, dust-collecting places such as bedding, carpets and cloth-covered furniture. “Chemical and physical methods aimed at reducing exposure to house dust mite allergens cannot be recommended,” wrote Dr. Peter Gotzsche, director of the Nordic Cochrane Center in Copenhagen. That means patients tempted to try cures ranging from powders and sprays to air ionizers and expensive HEPA-filter vacuum cleaners shouldn’t bother, said the researchers, who have studied the issue in periodic reports for more than a decade. "It is patients who pay for useless interventions, not doctors," Gotzsche said. In addition, national and international allergy agencies should stop advocating treatments that don’t work, he said. “Reviews and guidelines should reflect the facts,” the report concluded. Dust mites aren't the only culprit That recommendation drew the ire of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, whose members routinely advise the criticized techniques.
The Denmark study is “myopic,” said Mike Tringale, the asthma advocacy agency’s director of external affairs. It focused only on studies of dust mites, instead of the range of possible household allergens. “There’s not one cause of the problem and there’s not one solution,” said Tringale. He added that the review was incomplete and omitted studies that showed limiting dust mites improves asthma symptoms, a charge that Gotzsche denied. Reducing dust mites has to be part of an overall plan that may include medication and other interventions, such as removing pets from the home or eliminating smoking, Tringale said. The studies reviewed by the Denmark team ranged from trials of two weeks to two years. They included several techniques aimed at reducing dust mites. Researchers used chemicals to poison the critters and physical interventions to get rid of them. They tried sheathing mattresses and pillows in mite-proof covers, washing bed linens frequently in very hot water and removing dust-harboring furniture, toys, plants and other items from homes.
Some of the studies did manage to reduce the amount of mites by 50 percent or more. But that still had no effect on the asthma patients’ symptoms, probably because it’s not possible to reduce the mites enough, Gotzsche indicated. "The levels are so high that the reduction that can be obtained has no effect on the asthma," Gotzsche said. In some people, even small amounts of the allergen can trigger attacks. It’s not the mites themselves that cause problems. Their waste and decaying bodies contain a protein that mixes with household dust and becomes airborne, triggering wheezing, sneezing, watery eyes and runny noses in mite-sensitive people. Of the 20 million people in the United States with asthma, between 12 million and 14 million suffer from allergic asthma. About half of those people are sensitive to dust mites, said Dr. Gailen D. Marshall, director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Marshall said he doesn’t doubt the dust mite findings from the Cochrane Collaboration, which is widely respected for its evidence-based reviews.
“What this does for me in practice is that I can’t just say ‘Put a cover on your mattress and a filter in the corner and buy an expensive vacuum,’” he said. “It is just one component.”Mattresses might provide plenty of comfort and support, but they can also contain a slew of things that are dangerous for human health. In fact, the materials in many mattresses are highly flammable. Make sure your mattress protector is flame retardant. In the horrible case of a house fire, your mattress protector could keep the flammable materials inside of your mattress from making the flames grow even faster. Considering that the allergens in one’s bedding are one of the top causes of allergic rhinitis, it’s especially important that your mattress protector keeps allergens out. Many are made from materials that repel pollen and other known irritants. Even someone with mild allergies can suffer from major symptoms by sleeping in a bed covered in pollen; consider the fact that you place your face, eyes, and even open mouth on your bed, giving allergens a greater chance of getting in.
If the mattress protector is for an elderly person or child who struggles with wetting the bed, make sure your model is completely waterproof. As for user comfort, mattress protectors that breathe are ideal as they will help sleepers maintain a cool temperature throughout the night. Excessive sweating can mean you need to clean your mattress protector, and all of your bedding, more often. Ideally, you won’t need to wash your protector often, but just in case, look for one that is easy to clean — many are machine-wash friendly. Finally, make sure to measure the depth of your mattress before purchasing your protector. If it doesn’t fit your bed snugly, it can come off during the night, making you vulnerable to all of the allergens and bacteria you were trying to avoid. Bed bugs are not only a nuisance, causing uncomfortable itching and rashes, but they’ve also been found to be potentially deadly. One study analyzed bed bugs and found that they were carrying harmful bacteria, including an antibiotic-resistant strain that can be very dangerous if it gets into a person’s bloodstream.
Even if the particular breed of bed bugs in your mattress do not carry the aforementioned bacteria, they can still make you prone to infection. Any type of irritation on the skin that causes one to constantly itch themselves can lead to tiny open wounds all over the body. These openings make a person much more susceptible to airborne germs. Bed bug bites can be incredibly itchy, and even with the right ointments, it can be hard to resist the urge to scratch. The bed bugs themselves might provide some of those airborne germs. As they grow, they shed their outer casings, which then move through your home, and possibly into your eyes, nose, and mouth. The feces of bed bugs have also been shown to carry a deadly parasite. A truly effective mattress cover is both escape and bite proof. This means that, if there were bed bugs in your mattress before you put the protector on, they can no longer get out and infiltrate your home. It also means that bed bugs cannot bite their way through the protector, which is another way they escape a mattress.
The zipper affects how strongly a protector fends off bed bugs, too. Larger-teethed zippers can provide openings for the bugs to escape, so look for tight, small zippers. There are three main types of mattress protectors; zippered, fitted, and anchored. If you have a bed bug problem, then zippered is your only option because this is the only variety that provides total protection to your mattress. A zippered variety is essentially a giant pillow case for your mattress, that seals up. If you are simply looking to protect against spills, or maintain the quality of your mattress, a fitted model will do. These cover the top and sides, and protect the foam in your mattress from moisture, which can be very bad for the foam inside. An anchor protector only protects the top of your mattress. One must also consider the material of their mattress protector. Vinyl is a popular option because it does not allow any liquids through, but that also means it doesn’t let your mattress breathe.