Educating yourself about the allergens and reducing your exposure to these allergens can make a major difference between uncontrollably wheezing and breathing easy.
There are five allergen exposure prevention actions that offer successful results in removing or preventing airborne allergens are:
Encase
Wash
Vacuum
Wipe
Dehumidify
Encasement.Encasing your bedding – specifically pillows, mattresses and box springs – can easily prevent dust mite allergens from rearing its ugly head. This means no more waking up with a runny nose, watery eyes and a stuffy head.
Pillows - There are several studies that show that a pillow you have had for six years or longer acquires up to10 percent of its weight from dust mites and their waste.
Normal, everyday pillows and even hypoallergenic pillows are a breeding ground for dust mites. To nip these allergens in the bud, you need to cover your existing pillow with an encasement. You should also wash your pillow in hot water every week to wash away the dust mites and their excrement.
Mattresses – Dust mites live off of your dead skin flakes. Over one million dust mites can live on your mattress alone. The best way to starve these nasty little allergen causing creatures is to find a good mattress encasement.
Make sure your encasement has bound seams for durability, zipper flaps that fully close with high quality zipper teeth – they should be small enough to prevent dust mites from slipping through.
Box springs – It may seem funny to cover box springs since you don’t sleep directly on them, but dust mites often make homes there. In order to really do a thorough job in placing a dust mite barrier between you and your sleeping quarters, you must encase your box springs too.