Reusing Pajamas? Here’s Why Fresh Ones Are Better
Many individuals prefer using pajamas when they go to bed because they are very comfortable garments to wear. This is also one of the reasons why pajamas are often also used as daily loungewear. And since pajamas are dedicated to indoor use and are not exposed to dirt and germs found outside, a lot of people believe that reusing them is practical and acceptable. Some individuals may even consider only washing their pajamas after wearing them three to four times, or more if they shower before going to bed.
While reusing your pajamas a couple of times does not pose any immediate negative effects, there are clear benefits to wearing a fresh pair to bed every night instead. If you are the type of person that doesn’t change their PJs very often, take a look at the following advantages of using clean pajamas and consider changing your bedtime habits.
Clean Pajamas Promote Better Sleep
Sleep is vital for your health and well-being. It allows your body to recharge its energy and recover from the stress of the day. To properly prepare your mind and body for the next day, you need a night of restful sleep. However, if you feel dirty or are wearing used pajamas, it can be challenging to feel well-rested.
Wearing the same pajamas over and over again can cause germs, oils, and bacteria to accumulate on the fabric and potentially irritate your skin. They can also worsen allergies and increase any breathing issues, which can disrupt your sleep. Dirty clothes can also feel sticky and uncomfortable on your skin, so you might find yourself constantly scratching or tossing in bed.
Changing into fresh sleepwear before going to bed can help establish a healthy sleep routine. As you do it frequently, your brain becomes used to the action of changing into fresh pajamas as a signal for your body to slow down and get ready to hit the sack. Compared to going to bed in the same thing you were wearing the whole day, clean pajamas provide a tactile experience to transition you from being active to powering down for the night.
If you want to incorporate clean pajamas into your bedtime routine and improve your sleep quality, it’s a good idea to invest in enough pieces to get you through your laundry cycle. When buying women’s pajama tops or bottoms, select soft breathable fabrics like cotton. It can also help you feel cool throughout the night.
It Helps You Feel Refreshed
When you use fresh pajamas, the clean garments smell nice and feel good against your skin, which can help improve your mood. It’s the same as when you wear nice clothes for an important occasion, but clean pajamas are dressing for your own pleasure. They allow you to present your best self, even if you’re just going to bed.
While it’s acceptable to reuse your pajamas when you are just staying at home, putting on fresh clothes even if you’re the only one who’ll notice can be a mood booster. It may mean that you’ll need to buy more clothes or do the laundry more often, but it also allows you to prioritize your comfort and feel good about yourself.
It Improves Personal Hygiene
One of the top reasons you need to use fresh clean pajamas is to ensure you maintain good personal hygiene. Similar to showering and changing your clothes regularly, wearing fresh sleepwear helps to prevent bacteria and odor-causing germs from growing on your clothes. Since you are exposed to your own scent, you might not realize if there are any subtle changes in how your clothes smell.
When you re-wear pajamas, whatever sweat and dirt that absorbed the night before are reintroduced to your body. This can increase body odor since you are exposed to germs. So even if you shower before going to bed, dirty pajamas can give you body odor.
In addition, wearing used pajamas can increase the dust mites in your home. Dust mites live off the skin cells you routinely shed from your body, which often stay in beds and pajamas. When dead skin accumulates in your used clothes, you provide mites with a lot of food. While you can’t completely get rid of dust mites, regularly washing your pajamas and wearing fresh ones every day can reduce the dust mite population in your home.
It Helps You Avoid Health Issues
Continuously using dirty clothes can lead to serious health problems such as staph infections, skin irritations, and allergies. Staph infections are caused by types of germs usually found on a person’s skin. It is relatively common and should not cause any harmful issues unless the bacteria enter your body. In most cases, staph bacteria result in minor skin infections. If you regularly bathe and change into fresh clothes, the bacteria will wash off. However, lounging in the same sleepwear for days can promote staph bacteria growth. When this happens, you can experience symptoms of staph infections like boils, impetigo, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Bacteria can enter your skin through cuts and ingrown hairs. When you wear used pajamas, the bacteria, dead skin cells, and oils accumulated in the clothing are pressed into your skin as you sleep—which increases your risk of getting irritated. This might result in clogged pores, infections, pimples, and other skin problems.
If you suffer from allergies, a good way to manage them is to change your pajamas and sheets often. Just like dirty clothes, they can accumulate a significant amount of dust, so it’s best to wash them regularly. Also, it can be more challenging to control asthma and dust allergies when you’re lying on a potential trigger and this may make it harder for you to breathe properly.
Whether you are going to bed or lounging at home, pajamas can feel very comfy. Sometimes, it can feel too comfortable that you don’t want to change to fresh clothes. While using the same pajamas for a couple of nights isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you can experience more health benefits if you stop reusing your sleepwear. If you want to support your overall well-being, begin by wearing fresh and clean pajamas each night.
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