Should you shower in the morning or at night? The age-old debate rages on—with everyone choosing their side based on a myriad of factors.
I can see the benefits of both. Morning showerers like to start off their day feeling refreshed and renewed, while night showerers like slipping into bed after having rinsed off the day’s grime. But what does the objectivity of scientific research have to say on the subject?
Writing in The Conversation, senior lecturer in clinical microbiology from the University of Leicester, Primrose Freestone, says that throughout our days, no matter how inactive we’ve been, our bodies gather all sorts of pollutants, allergens, and greases.
Washing all of that off at night before slipping into bed sounds nice in theory—until you realize that your body just keeps leaking sweat and dead skin cells no matter what you do.
All that stuff becomes food for bacteria and dust mites. If you’re not regularly washing your sheets, all that grit and grime gets recycled back onto your clean body by morning. The logic of washing off the day and slipping into bed clean as a whistle doesn’t work out nearly as well as you think it does.
Your Sheets Are Disgusting Because You’re Showering At The Wrong Time
Morning showers, however, act like a microbial reset. You rinse off the night’s sweat, dead skin, and whatever other microscopic nuisances you’ve got lingering around in your sheets.
You’re also less likely to trap last night’s bacteria between your skin and freshly donned clothes. Showering in the morning, you smell fresher, cleaner, and are less likely to be a walking, talking mound of allergens.
Of course, none of this matters if you never wash your sheets. You need to wash them at least once a week. That’s not a suggestion; it’s basic hygiene.
Fungal spores, bacteria, and microscopic mite poop are all snuggling up with you otherwise. That night shower might feel like a reward, but science leans toward a morning shower if you truly want to stay fresh.
Or do both, if you’ve got wiggle room in your water bill. Just don’t forget to wash your sheets. Those things are just giant napkins for every gross secretion that seeps through your skin at night.
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