BY GLEN PETERSON

Tom Cruise may have the checkbook to pay $70,000 for a mattress (TomKat sleeps on Hästens’ top-of-the-line Vividus Bed), but when it comes to choosing where you’ll rest each night, you should be thinking less about price tags and more about how to keep your bed clean.

“The average person loses one cup of moisture every night while he sleeps,” says Terrance Bachor, vice-president of sales and marketing for Hypnos. Skin and water will leach into a synthetic mattress, causing mold and mildew to build up. “Dust mites flourish in warm, moist environments and live off skin,” says Bachor. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences suggests that almost half of all households have beds that are loaded with dust mites, mildew and mold.

How can you be proactive about the cleanliness of your bed and bedding? Jay Striengin, owner of Mattress Land Associates in Denver, Colorado, says that there are a couple of ways to ensure that your mattress doesn’t get funky but none more effective than “vacuuming the actual mattress every other week to remove any bacteria that may be growing.” He cautions against using sprays and other airborne antibacterial cleaners because they probably won’t even reach the actual mattress, thus leaving any built-up bacteria to continue to grow beneath your sheets. Striengin explains that some mattress manufacturers suggest purchasing mattress protectors that inhibit anything from reaching the mattress but stresses that “removal of the mattress sleeve for washing should happen every week or as often as you wash you sheets.” These sleeves can be purchased for about $40.

Looking for other ways to stay healthy? Pick up the May/June issue of Maximum Fitness--on sale April 6, 2010.