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  • 2015-03-10 (xsd:date)
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  • Do Mattresses Double in Weight Every 10 Years? (en)
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  • On 8 March 2015, popular Facebook user George Takei published a post that linked to a list of purportedly shocking facts. The link featured a captioned photograph stating that the weight of mattresses doubles every 10 years, a circumstance attributed (several links later) to the accumulation of dust mites and dust mite droppings: The repetition of that rumor introduced the claim to many Facebook users, but the belief that mattresses double in weight every ten years due to debris (most commonly dust mites or their droppings) is far from new: descriptors of mattresses doubling in weight over a 10-year period have been traversing the Internet since at least as far back as 2000. An article published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on 18 February 2000 may have been the source of the rumors of accumulated debris weighing down mattresses: Since most humans spend roughly a third of their lives in bed, it's no wonder the surfaces to which we entrust our vulnerable, sleeping bodies have aroused some suspicions. Bedding and sleep surfaces present a spectrum of hygiene risks when not properly maintained, and urban legends commonly invoke specters of bug-tainted or gruesomely unsettling slumber scenarios. Anyone who suffers an allergy to dust mites or their detritus knows the effects of such a sensitivity are all too real. But do mattresses truly double in weight over ten years? (And does this gain ever level off, or do really old mattresses become exponentially heavier across the decades?) As is the case with precise but shaky widespread beliefs, the mattress claim was questioned when it initially appeared in 2000; and as is similarly common, the subsequent adjustment of facts failed to spread nearly as far as its more titillating predecessor. Just a few months after the WSJ article was published, Ohio State University researcher Emmett Glass (quoted in the original piece) explained: Since the WSJ article seemed to cement what was once a sales pitch for mattresses, it's difficult to pin down precisely how the mattresses double in weight every 10 years claim originated. Extrapolation from extant patterns of shedding and sebum production could be a partial culprit; however, such calculations fail to account for the near universal use of sheets, pillows, and other washable bedding (never mind pajamas) acting as a buffer between human bodies and mattresses. No evidence (credible or otherwise) seemed to support the claim about mattresses doubling in weight over any particular period of time. Hygiene aside, mattresses do take a beating in the home just from standard use. In the absence of an exceptional amount of exposure to direct contact (or a health issue like nighttime incontinence), it's far likelier your mattress will require replacement due to wear and tear than added weight from dust mites and debris. (en)
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