Wearing this item to bed is worse than sleeping in a toilet, experts say

Getting dirty between the sheets now has a whole new meaning.

Researchers are urging people to stop wearing unclean socks to bed after discovering that they often contain the same bacteria found in cockroaches and their fecal droppings.

Experts obtained by Mattress Next Day polled 1,017 Brits about their sleeping habits and discovered that 18% wear socks while sleeping.

A sickening 70% of those sock-wearers don’t bother changing into a clean pair before bed, instead staying in the same pair that they’ve worn all day long.

The researchers swabbed stinky stocks worn by people between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and found that half of them contained pseudomonas aeruginosa — a type of bacteria that causes infections in humans.

“It typically infects the airway and urinary tract, and causes infection of the lungs,” the Mattress Next Day experts asserted. “It can easily spread on tools that get contaminated and are not properly cleaned.”

The Mattress Next Door researchers also discovered that some socks were even dirtier than uncleaned TV remotes — no small feat given that those devices have been found to be “dirtier than a toilet.”

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health has reported that pseudomonas aeruginosa is commonly found in cockroaches and their feces.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa spreads easily, so smelly sock wearers could transfer the bacteria onto their bedding, greatly increasing the potential for infection.

The experts also added that feet have around 250,000 sweat glands meaning that moisture can build up in dirty socks creating fungi known as dermatophytes that can cause Athlete’s Foot.

The Mattress Next Door researchers advised people who want to cover up their tootsies to put on a fresh pair of socks before sleeping. They also urged all readers to wash their dirty socks at temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit to kill all bacteria.

It’s not the first time that experts have advised what items people should and shouldn’t be wearing to sleep.

Back in 2021, one Detroit-based doctor urged people not sleep naked, saying slumbering in the buff could make your bedsheets filthy.

“The average person passes gas 15 to 25 times a day, and this can happen while you’re sleeping,” the Detroit-based physician explained. “A scientific study proved every time you pass gas you’re spraying a tiny amount of fecal material.”