Key Sheet Changing Statistics:
- The average person changes sheets roughly every 24 days, or slightly less often than once every three weeks.
- The average person changes or cleans pillowcases every 24.6 days.
- The average person sheds around 10 grams of skin every day.
- The average person pours around 26 gallons of sweat into their sheets every year.
- American men change their bedsheets, on average, every 29.6 days. Women do so every 19.4 days.
- American men change or wash their pillowcase every 29 days, while women do so every 20.4 days, on average.
- Americans who sleep naked and don't shower before bed take change their sheets every 19.4 days, on average.
- Americans who drool often or always change their pillowcases every 31.8 days, on average.
- Single men go up to almost 45 days before changing their bedding on average, which could be one of the reasons they're still single.
How Often Do Americans Change Their Bedding?
The average number of days Americans go before changing out their bedding
A new study shows that the average person changes sheets roughly every 24 days, or slightly less often than once every three weeks. Interestingly, people wash their pillowcases less often than their sheets, clocking in at 24.6 days.
Depending on your own habits, these stats may seem shocking or totally acceptable. Either way, experts encourage people to clean their bedding more frequently, with some suggesting a weekly clean to help prevent allergens.
Some respondents had their own limits for not washing their bedding, saying that it could take up to 35 days before they'd consider their filthy bedding "gross".
Their disgust at this point is justified, since five weeks of unwashed sheets can allow pretty significant accumulation of dead skin particles.
Specifically, the average person sheds around 10 grams of skin each day. Gross!
Bedding Behaviors By Demographic
The average number of days Americans go before changing their bedding, by demographic
When it comes to hygienic sheet care, men wait 10 days longer to swap their sheets, on average. Single men admitted to going almost 45 days before changing their bedding on average. Now it's not surprising they're still single...
Overall, relationship commitment seemed to correlate with more frequent bedding cleaning. Respondents in a relationship had the shortest average time between cleaning their pillows, while married individuals had the cleanest sheets.
And those who slept naked without showering before bed washed their sheets more often, as one might hope. However, the same could not be said about respondents who regularly drooled, since they waited a whopping 31.8 days, on average, before changing their pillowcases.
Bad Bed Habits
The percentage of Americans who find different sleep scenarios gross, by gender
- 74.4% of women find wearing shoes in or on the bed gross, while 65.8% of men do.
- 20.1% of women find eating in the bed gross, while 27.6% of men do.
Despite beds being essentially private places, survey respondents found a variety of behaviors unacceptable for anyone to practice between the sheets.
With that said, a large majority of and women said wearing shoes in or on the bed is unacceptable and gross - and who can blame them for wanting to leave the neighbor's dog hair off their sheets?
Interesting, men were more likely than women to find several actions unacceptable, despite them generally leaving their bedding dirty far longer. For example, eating in bed struck a greater percentage of men as gross.
Dirtiest American Beds
Personal mattress images that will shock you
Survey respondents were asked to submit visual evidence of their bedding hygiene, and as you can see, the photos speak for themselves.
Regardless of how often both men and women claimed to change their sheets, pictures of their bedsheets proved otherwise.
Experts say that pillow yellowing is most likely caused by the accumulation of sweat - a thought unlikely to help anyone drift off to sleep.
How Often Should You Wash Your Sheets?
Most people should wash their sheets once a week. If you don't sleep on your bed every day, you might be able to stretch this to twice every month or so.
Some people should wash their sheets more often than once a week. For example, if you're a pet owner, particularly if you let them sleep in your bed, washing your sheets every 3-4 days is recommended.
For those who experience allergies or asthma, it may be a smart decision to clean your bedding more frequently to see if your allergy symptoms improve.
You should wash sheets more often in the warm summer months because you will probably get more sweat on your bedding. And if you have seasonal allergies in the spring or summer, washing sheets more often can help relieve those symptoms.