How Can Dirty Carpets Affect Your Health?

Do you think your carpet is actually clean right now? You might want to think again. This isn’t a good thing, because there are many ways in which dirty carpet can affect your health. It’s not just your health you need to worry about, but also your family and roommates, your pets, and maybe even houseplants and occasional guests!

It’s not always evident to the unaided human eye, but the carpets of a home might be themselves a home to allergens, dirt, bacteria, and any host of other things that aren’t great for your health. Carpets which aren’t maintained well hold things you don’t want. These include dead skin cells, molds, dust mites, pet hair, and insect feces, among many other particles that get deep-seated into their fibers.

Some parts of the world are much more likely to get dirtier carpets than others. Wetter areas tend to bring in lots of mud with your shoes. If you live somewhere like Enterprise, Alabama, you’re much more likely to have dirtier carpets than if you had lived in somewhere like San Diego, CA.

3 Health Hazards

There are three potential health hazards of dirty carpets that you might be at risk of if your floors aren’t maintained well.

The first danger is a weak immune system. This part of your body is responsible for fighting off unwanted bacteria and toxins so that your body can stay in great shape.

On the other hand, when you live in an environment that isn’t clean, it can make your stress levels go up, which usually impacts immunity. When carpets stay dirty, everyone in your home gets exposed to a variety of harmful bacteria, causing the immune system to wind up going into overdrive. That will leave you increasingly susceptible to disease and illness.

Mycotoxins are among the more dangerous microbes which might thrive in a dirty carpet. These are actually made up of various kinds of molds. Mycotoxin exposure is something that can weaken a person’s immune system, causing various health problems like respiratory diseases, allergies, and stomach infection.

Skin problems can also happen thanks to dirty carpets. Common culprits include skin asthma and athlete’s foot.

Dirty carpets might cause athlete’s foot specifically if you walk across them barefoot, since fungi and bacteria might come into contact through skin openings, wounds, or cuts. Also, skin asthma attacks can happen thanks to the dirt and dust emanating from a filthy carpet.

Respiratory issues can happen from molds thriving in a dirty carpet which attract allergens and bacteria. If they’re inhaled, they can result in flu-like symptoms or other respiratory ailments.

Dust mites can thrive on fungi and bacteria, which makes a dirty carpet an ideal breeding ground to them. Anytime dust mites die off and their carcasses stay on carpet fibers, they might trigger rashes and eye and nose irritation.

A dirty carpet might also trigger an asthma attack. Asthmatic patients typically have negative reactions when they get exposed to various environmental triggers such as the toxins and bacteria that can be found inside carpets and their fibers.

Conclusion

So if you’re looking for carpet cleaning in Enterprise, AL regular cleaning is crucial to clean carpets. Ideally, you get them vacuumed once a week. Any areas that get a lot of foot traffic might need to be vacuumed several times a week, or even daily. Even so, vacuuming isn’t enough to get deep-seated dirt from the carpet fibers. Carpets should also get a professional intensive or deep-cleaning anywhere from every two years to every six months.