House dust mites are microscopic eight-legged creatures that live in vast numbers in warm, moist places like your sofa, curtains and carpets.

Thousands of them live in your bed. They feed on flakes of your skin, fingernails and hair. They're in your carpets and your couches.

It’s got nothing to do with how clean your home is. It’s all about the temperature and humidity of your home. Vacuuming may help clear up dead dust mites, but the living have a clever ability to burrow into fabric and escape being sucked up.

Now, the dust mites themselves won’t cause problems to your health, but their body parts and excrement contain an allergenic protein that can cause sneezing, itchy eyes, stuffy nose, breathing problems and asthma.

If you suffer from these problems then take the following precautions:

    * Reduce the temperature in your home.

     * Wash sheets, blankets, duvet covers and pillowcases regularly (in a minimum 60C wash to kill the little buggers).

     * Damp dust rather than dry dust your home.

    *  Keep your bedrooms well ventilated.

    * Air your mattress at least once a month.

    * But here's the easiest of them all... Don’t make your bed! Research at Kingston University suggested that mites can’t survive in an unmade bed. They need to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, but conditions in an unmade bed are too dry.

      So leave the bed as it is every morning to let the moisture escape from your sheets. The mites will then dehydrate to death!

Why a curry will help spice up your day...

Have a hectic day planned? Make time to fit in a curry lunch.

British researchers at Oxford Polytechnic found that adding only 3 grams of hot chilli into a meal caused an increased metabolic rate of 25% on average.

That’s 25% more energy to do something after lunch than you normally would have!

In the name of wealth, happiness and success!
 

Pascale Barrow
Managing Editor of Personal & Finance Confidential