If You’re Wearing Shoes Inside Your Home You’re Living in Filth

In news that’ll have you feeling pretty damn self-conscious about your cleanliness, Dyson has gone and released its findings from its first-ever Global Dust Study. The assessment took a look at the cleaning habits of us humans and reviewed the impact our grotty ways can have on our overall health.

The study reviewed the behaviours of 10,754 respondents from 10 countries (1,075 people from Aus were involved) and well, the findings were interesting.

According to a statement released by Dyson on the study, Aussies are kind of failing when it comes to cleaning up.

Here are some interesting stats for you, shared by Dyson:

• “40% of Australians are cleaning their home more frequently since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.” This, however, is still less regularly than people in China and Italy.
• Few Aussies know what makes up the dust in their homes.
• “A third of Australians think dust is relatively harmless and 60% are unaware of the potential link between household dust and viruses.”
• “4 in 5 Aussies don’t clean their mattress regularly – alarming given there can be millions of dust mites in a single mattress”
• “1 in 5 Australians wear outdoor shoes in the home, increasing the diversity of the microbial landscape of the dust in the home.”
• Half of Australians are only cleaning their home occasionally or when it becomes visibly dirty. This in turn increases “exposure to invisible household dust, viruses and other microbial life built up over time around our homes”.

What is dust made up of?

According to the study, less than a third of Aussies are aware of what dust contains. As Dyson shares, it “mainly consists of dust mites and their faeces which are considered the most important inducers of allergenic diseases worldwide, according to academic research”.

Need a moment? I get it.

Dyson continued in its statement, sharing that while many of us assume that dust is made up of particles of sand or soil, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“In reality, household dust is a complex matrix of components that can include dead skin cells, hair, dust mites, dust mite faeces, bacteria, viruses, mould, small insects and other fibres and particles.”

If you don’t tidy, you put your health at risk

More than a grubby surface, leaving dust to build can increase your chances of becoming quite ill.

Professor Sotiris Vardoulakis, Professor of Global Environmental Health at the Australian National University explained in a statement:

“Household dust can exacerbate asthma symptoms or respiratory allergies when breathed in. Most commonly, people may experience irritated eyes, nose and throat when exposed to dust and dust mite faeces. However, prolonged exposure to airborne dust particles can lead to chronic breathing and lung problems, and potentially increased risk of heart disease. With 1 in 9 Australians suffering asthma or respiratory conditions, it’s important to reduce exposure to dust through regularly cleaning and vacuuming.”

So, in short: vacuum up dust. Keep outdoor shoes outside the home. And don’t wait until there’s a mountain of dirt in your house before you give it a once over.

Oh, and if you want to update your Dyson collection, check out their most recent sale here. Their Dyson V7 Cord-free vacuum is currently $399 (RRP: $599).