LONDONERS have the dirtiest bed sheets in the country, according to a new survey, which reckons a quarter of our beds are changed once a month or less.
Popular on LondonNet
Places like Yorkshire and the north of Ireland boast bed-cleaning rates twice as high as Londoners, research by Sheilas’ Wheels insurance shows.
It now seems that the famous 1999 Tracey Emin work, My Bed, could have been a wry comment on the capital’s lack of sheet-washing skills.
The main reason for our bad bedding habits compared to the rest of the country is that London has a higher proportion of the dirty, lazy 18-25 age-group, 10 per cent of whom wash their sheets only six times a year, probably when mum pays a visit.
In contrast, the over-55s put their bed-clothes through the wash cycle three times a month, on the average.
Experts say that unwashed beds can host up to ten million bedbugs.
“Washing your bedding takes time and effort but to reduce levels of unwanted organisms and mites, you need to wash your bed linen at least once a fortnight, preferably once a week,” said Dr Lisa Ackerley, an Environmental Health Practitioner.
In case people wonder what’s in this survey for Sheilas’ Wheels: they want more of us to insure our beds against spillages and the like.
That Britain’s Dirty Sheets League Table in Full:
1. London – 24 per cent wash sheets once a month or less)
2. North East – 22 per cent
3. South West – 21 per cent
4. East Midlands – 19 per cent
= 4. South East – 19 per cent
6. North West – 18 per cent
= 6. West Midlands – 18 per cent
8. Wales – 17 per cent
9. Eastern England – 16 per cent
10. Scotland – 15 per cent
11. Yorkshire – 13 per cent
12. Northern Ireland – 8 per cent
