A Toxicologist Explains How You Should Be Cleaning Your Mattress

After we found out we should've been washing our pillows this whole time, we got to wondering whether there are other aspects of our beds that secretly need "scrubbing." We wash our sheets and pillows, but should we be cleaning our mattresses? If so, how in the world does one do that?

"We should consider cleaning our mattresses," said Mehta. "Especially so if we don't use a mattress cover or pad for further protection."

Why, you ask? "Cleaning helps remove or prevent dust, dirt, dead skin, pests, and stains," she told mindbodygreen.

There are two types of mattress cleaning we should consider.

The first is easy to add each time you change your sheets. "For a quick cleaning job," said Mehta, "you can start by vacuuming your mattress thoroughly using the upholstery attachment if you have it."

If your mattress is a newer foam-topped model, it's "best if people use a soft brush attachment on their vacuum when cleaning," which some upholstery attachments have.

The second technique is for those twice-yearly cleans that Mehta mentioned and are a bit more in-depth.

"For a deeper cleaning, which includes removing odors, you can use baking soda, sprinkling anywhere from half a cup to the entire box over your mattress," Mehta told us. "You can either let it sit for a few hours or overnight, and then vacuum it."

Beyond that, we'd be remiss to not mention the importance of rotating your mattress (end to end) every two weeks or so, which helps prevent divots where you sleep each night. You can also flip your mattress, though a lot of more modern models have a defined top that makes flipping out of the question.