What are House Dust Mites?
House Dust Mites are microscopic creatures, invisible to the naked eye, found in every single home. Their ideal environment is a warm, humid, dark place with little or no air circulating and an abundance of human skin flakes. This describes our beds perfectly, with other soft furnishings such as fabric sofas & carpets coming a close second!
In the right conditions with an adequate food supply each house dust mite can produce up to 20 droppings each day and with the average bed playing host to over 10, 000 mites, (British Allergy Foundation UK), that’s an awful lot of droppings!
What is an Allergic Reaction?
The term allergy is used to describe an abnormal excessive response, within the body, to a substance, which is not necessarily harmful in itself. It is your immune system mistaking the allergen as something harmful- an unallergic individuals immune system would just ignore it. This reaction ultimately results in histamine being released, this is the chemical that elicits an allergic reaction causing localised swelling at the point of contact and further reactions that cause symptoms and disease in a predisposed person.
If this becomes a chronic occurrence it causes in the very least inconvenience, and more frequently a great deal of misery and a decreased quality of life. A simple skin prick allergy test or blood analysis can be performed by a specialist doctor to identify those allergic to the common allergen ‘Der p 1’. A family history of allergy is an indicator of being at risk from mite sensitisation. Symptoms include a runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, coughing, asthmatic breathing difficulties and in children a flare up of eczema.
House Dust Mite Allergies Affecting Sleep
Studies have shown that house dust mite allergies and associated asthma may both directly and indirectly disturb getting to sleep and the quality of sleep.
This is termed nocturnal asthma and a study from 1989 showed that of 7729 patients, (aged from 3 to age 86), 63% woke 3 times a week and 39% woke nightly. 96% of those waking nightly still had symptoms in the morning and suffered impaired mental performance following regular disturbed sleep. 78% were allergic to at least 1 allergen & 56% were allergic to dust mite. But most importantly of all 22% of those that woke every night still only classed their asthma as mild but the consequences of disturbed sleep is serious over a period of time causing chronic fatigue and will have a detrimental effect on their life. As the mite allergens are inhaled from the bed they aggravate the natural nighttime reactivity of the respiratory system & exacerbate allergic eczema. Heavy mouth breathing & thickening of the upper airway interfere with breathing.
Once sleep is compromised over a long period of time it is known to lead to a reduced quality of life causing lethargy, poor concentration and irritability amongst many other things. Children are particularly at risk, as they tend to spend more time asleep in bed and also may not be able to comprehend the connection between lethargy in the school day to a disturbed sleep pattern. Over a long period of time this can lead to them struggling to keep up with their education resulting in low self-esteem. This stress can ultimately cause their allergic condition to worsen and a vicious circle is entered into unless it is recognised by their parents or carers and expert help sought.
In the UK, asthma and associated respiratory illnesses are three times more prevalent than any other childhood disease.
In the UK there are 5.1million people diagnosed and being treated as asthmatic, 1.4 million of these are children and of these 80% are mite sensitive. Once a person/child becomes sensitised to house dust mite it must be avoided in order to reduce the symptoms.