The end game for dust mites control is to suppress their numbers to a level that does not trigger allergic symptoms. That’s where you’ll want to invest in products that prevent dust mite growth. Either that, or you’ll find yourself getting back to allergic medicines as the symptoms keep relapsing.
In order to know what works in suppressing dust mite growth, you’ll need to understand the environment that dust mites thrive in.
What Fuels Dust Mite Growth?
Dust mites are known to breed optimally in a damp and moderately warm environment. To be more specific, dust mites thrive in a temperature between 68 °F – 77°F (20°C – 25°C) and humidity of 70%-90%. Most households would fit into the parametric value that promotes dust mite growth.
Besides ambiance temperature and humidity, food sources a vital factor for dust mites to breed. These creatures feast on dead skin cells, which are abundant in any occupied home.
A single human shed millions of skin cells daily, which most of the dead cells found in mattress and carpets. Thus, it isn’t surprising that dust mites are found in large numbers in these areas of households.
6 Dust Mite Prevention Products
If you want to stop dust mite growth, you’ll need to disrupt the food source or the ambient settings. These products are meant to do that.
1. UV Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
It’s impossible to stop shedding skin cells, particularly on the mattress where you spend 8 hours sleeping on it. However, you can prevent the skin flakes from piling up with a handheld UV vacuum cleaner. It helps to keep your bed dust-free, and rob dust mites of their food source.
The UV handheld vacuum is designed not only to remove dust but also dust mites that are deeply entrenched. These handheld vacuums come with a vibrating mechanism, which beats the mattress to bring up dust mites that are hiding in it.
2. Carpet Cleaner
Once you’ve tackled the mattress, you’ll need to do something about the hundreds of thousands of dust mites in the carpet. Carpet is great for collecting dust and short of disposing of it, you’ll need to get a powerful carpet cleaner for proper cleaning.
A vacuum may work on a low-pile carpet, but when it comes to medium or high-pile carpet, you’ll need a powerful beast like the Bissell ProHeat 2X. You can sprinkle diatomaceous earth to wick off the moisture in the carpet and kill some of the mites for a few hours. Then, remove the residue with the carpet cleaner.
3. Dehumidifier
Humidity in the range of 70% -90% not only breeds dust mites but is also ideal for mold, bacterias, and viruses. It just isn’t healthy if your home is damp and humid. If you can’t air your home naturally, you’ll want to invest in a dehumidifier.
A dehumidifier reduces excessive moisture from the air and helps to prevent dust mite growth. The ideal indoor humidity for humans is between 30% – 50%. You’ll need to get a dehumidifier that’s capable of reducing the humidity for the size of your room.
4. Exhaust Fan
Bathrooms are often the source of excessive air moisture. The dampness can spread into the bedroom if it’s connected to the bathroom. Installing an exhaust fan helps to drive most of the damp air out away from the bedroom, and keep dust mites counts low.
5. Air Purifier
An air purifier removes allergen, dust, skin cells, and dust mites from the air. It is scientifically proven as an effective product that suppresses dust mite growth. What’s important in choosing an air purifier is to ensure that it’s fitted with a HEPA filter.
HEPA filters are layers of membrane that blocks 99.97% of microparticles as small as 0.3 microns. Dust mites, the average size of a dead skin cell is 30 microns and dust mites average 300 microns. Therefore, the air purifier would have no problem in removing both from the air.
Useful tip: Place the air purifier near the bed to have a better effect on dust mite reduction.
6. Furnace Filter
If your home relies on a central HVAC system for heating, you’ll want to ensure that it’s fitted with a furnace filter with at least a MERV11 rating. Dust piles up quickly on the filter and if it isn’t built to trap dust mites, you’ll have the blower sends hundreds of them into your home.
Bottom Line
As far as dust mites are concerned, prevention is always better than cure. And that starts from disrupting the comfy space of dust mites with the above-mentioned products.
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