Why morning showers keep your body cleaner
You might love slipping into the sheets after an evening shower, but an expert says a morning scrub delivers a fresher start to the day.
To keep our skin healthy and body odour at bay, we need a warm shower or bath daily or at least every other day, says a clinical microbiology professor.
While some people prefer to wash in the evening, only a morning shower will tackle the nightly accumulation of sweat and skin bacteria that can transform into body odour, Dr Primrose Freestone says.
“[After a morning shower] you then slip into your clothes much fresher than you were the night before," Freestone tells Saturday Morning.
Dust mites love to make their homes in our mattresses, pillow cases and bedding, says clinical microbiology professor Dr Primrose Freestone.
SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO
Related stories:
Washing off the day is essential for people who get dirty at work and helpful for hayfever sufferers, Freestone says, and it can also help preserve the cleanliness of your bedding.
But unless your sheets, pillowcase and pillow itself are “pristinely clean”, you’ll be getting out of bed less clean than you got in.
“Your clean body is going to go into sheets that are dirty, that have got sweat and skin bacteria and house dust mites.”
Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels
Even when the external temperature of your bedroom is cold, it's normal and healthy to produce at least 200ml or 300ml of sweat per night, Freestone says.
“Half a pint of sweat is going to end up on your sheets and in your mattress. If you've got pyjamas or a nightgown on, you'll still sweat through that, I'm afraid.”
While normal sweat is itself odourless when it combines with bacteria on our skin, body odour can be the result.
Cleansing your skin in the morning will wash off any potentially stinky bacterial cocktail that's been forming on your skin overnight, she says.
“A morning shower makes you fresher for longer, and also probably keeps your clothes cleaner as well for longer.
“If you are keen on actually becoming refreshed and starting the day in the cleanest possible state that you can be in, then a morning shower is basically for you."
Unsplash+
To wash our skin, a 25C to 30C shower or bath works well, Freestone says, but definitely not a soak in a heated spa pool, which she recommends people clean their bodies before and after.
“Any bacteria or faecal matter that might be encrusted in your below areas are going to become solubilised and dispersed into the water that's in the spa bath or jacuzzi.
“What that means is you're going to be sitting in not only your own diluted fecal matter but also that of any person that might be with you … It’s going to float off into the water. You won't smell it, but the bacteria that live in it will be there.”
We can never completely rid our beds of house dust mites and skin bacteria, Freestone says, but to keep these at a low level, she recommends the following laundry routine:
Every week:
Wash your sheets, pillowcases and duvet cover - ideally at 50C to 60C
Vacuum your bed and any surrounding fabrics
Every month:
Wash your pillow at 60C (to kill dust mites, you can also put it in the freezer overnight)
Wash your duvet as per the manufacturer's washing instructions
