Big Germs Found on Campus
David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 29, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. - There are some Big Germs on college campuses, dwelling in students' beds, a new study reveals.
The study discovered plenty of germs partying on students' pillows and mattress pads. It uncovered "a veritable Petri dish of microscopic mischief: Hundreds of thousands of bacterial, yeast, fungi and mold colonies."
The study was commissioned by SleepBetter.org, an online resource of sleep-related information created by comfort cushioning supplier Carpenter Co. It tested 50 pillows and nine mattress pads from current college students in 25 states.
Carpenter called the study, "SleepBetter.org Investigates: Fungus Among Us," and said it is the first scientific study of college bedding from around the country.
The study found that, on average, the pillows in the study had 350,000 potential live bacteria colonies and 91,000 potential live yeast and mold colonies. The mattress pads were even worse, with an average of 2 million potential bacteria colonies and 330,000 yeast and mold colonies.
"These findings are enough to have college students pulling all-nighters - for fear of going to bed," said Lisa Shives, a nationally recognized physician who specializes in sleep medicine. "These high levels of bacteria, yeast and mold mean that students' pillows and mattress pads are reservoirs for vast colonies of nasty microbes. Given the potential health issues associated with these microorganisms, this study should serve as a wakeup call for anyone with old bedding, whether or not in college, to throw them out."
Men's pillows had almost twice as many microbes as women's pillows - 480,000 potential bacterial counts versus 290,000, respectively. But the worst bedding belonged to a female college senior whose pillow contained 170 million potential bacteria counts and almost 40 million potential yeast and mold counts, the study found.
The study identified 241 different microbes, some that can cause dysentery, bronchitis, sinusitis and laryngitis, and another that can, under the right conditions, cause skin lesions, nail fungus, asthma and pulmonary infections.
The survey findings were released along with the results of a national survey of 1,000 students from around the country who were polled about their sleep habits and bedding. It found that 41% of college students never washed their pillows and 43% never washed their mattress pads.
"Just as sleep is a critical component of success in college, so is keeping healthy," said Dan Schecter, vice president of consumer products at Carpenter and creator of SleepBetter.org. "While many parents spare no expense in providing their children with the resources they will need in college - computers, books and other equipment - they often neglect to give them the best possible sleeping environment. As this study and survey make clear, students can be doing much more to improve the amount and quality of sleep they are getting each night."
The survey found that 48% of the college students said they are not getting at least seven hours of sleep each night.
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