Did you know that the pillow you sleep on could be the key to how you feel in the morning?
Environmental consulting firm, Mycologia, found that pillows older than five years had twice as much mould in them compared with pillows less than two years old, and the different types of mould appeared to directly relate to the age of the pillow.
“This is good news if you change your pillow every two years,” said CEO of Mycologia, Dr Heike Neumeister-Kemp (also former chair of the Indoor Air Quality Special Interest Group of Australia and New Zealand).
“With our research showing that the average age of a pillow is close to five years old, people are putting themselves at risk.”
Dr Neumeister-Kemp said this risk applied whether allergic to mould or not because breathing-in large numbers of ‘nasties’ from mouldy pillows puts immune systems under pressure as it has to work hard to fight them off.
“As a parent, sometimes we’re so tired we can practically fall asleep standing up, but this research suggests we need to consider the health of our sleep – and an important part of that is our pillow.”
She said that they also tested children’s pillows and found that results are as bad as for adults.
“A child’s respiration rate is higher than adults so they are probably breathing in more mould. Taken together with a child’s developing immune system can increase the risk of adverse health effects.”
Dr Neumeister-Kemp said they also found different mould levels in different states with the warmer climates more likely to have the most mould. Northern Territory had the highest rate of mould while Tasmania had the lowest.
To help people know when the time is up for their pillow, Tontine has introduced a Tontine Fresh date stamped pillow with a ‘use by’ date.
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Motherpedia has 10 Tontine Fresh pillows to give away. Just let us know in 25 words or less how much you love your old pillow!
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