Things to show my Mum this article is one of them: Jan 18, 2005 Go ahead, leave your bed unmade. It's healthier By Chiang Yin Pheng Well, the lazier ones among us who hate the chore now have one good counter: It does look slovenly, but it's healthier to leave the bed unmade because it kills the dust mites resident there. Dust mites, found mostly in beds, carpets and other soft furnishings, have been identified as a major source of allergens. Dust mites have been blamed for asthma and a host of other allergies. Scientists from the Kingston University have found that unmade beds, which leave the sheets and pillows exposed to the air, dries them out more than if they were covered up with a quilt; drier conditions make survival challenging for those dust mites. Warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for them, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in short supply. The BBC website this week noted that an average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites (eew?!) Think of these critters feeding on scales of your shed skin and happily breeding and excreting waste in your mattress and pillows, which you inhale while you slumber (eew!) Kingston University scientists have developed a computer model to track how changes in the home can influence the dust mite population in beds. They will be tracking mite populations in 36 British households and figuring out how changes to building features such as heating, ventilation and insulation affect mite colonies. Researcher Stephen Pretlove said: 'We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body. 'Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die.' He added that the research being done may help cut back on spending on mite-induced illnesses each year. In Singapore, dust mites have also been identified as a major source of allergens. They are found mostly in beds, carpets and other soft furnishings in the home. One in five children and one in 20 adults in the Republic suffer from the chronic respiratory disease, with most asthma cases being caused by allergies, mainly to dust mites.