The study, conducted by Mattress Advisor, surveyed more than 1,000 people on their bed sheet-washing habits. The findings revealed that the typical American washes their sheets every 24 days. However, most respondents don't think their unwashed, grimy sheets qualify as "gross" until day 35.
"With the average person shedding about 10 grams of skin each day, you'd be piling a veritable feast for dust mites in that time," the survey writes.
The poll also highlighted the male of the species' questionable hygienic habits. Men appeared to wait at least 10 days longer than women before deciding it was laundry time. Single men waited an average of 45 days — more than six weeks — before taking their dirty sheets off the bed.
"Relationship commitment seemed to correlate with more frequent washing. Respondents in a relationship had the shortest average time between pillow cleanings," the survey pointed out.
Women are cleaner when it comes to sheet-soiling good times. Most female respondents said they wash their bed sheets four days after sex. Men, on the other hand, continue to sleep on their used sheets for another 11 days — unless they anticipated getting lucky. More than half of all male respondents said they put clean sheets on the bed before a potential hookup. Fewer than 40 percent of women performed the same ritual before a dancing-between-the-sheets kind of date.
