How often do you wash your pjs? It's probably not enough & that could be dangerous

LONDON, England -- How often do you wash your pajamas?

Don’t lie.

According to a new poll by British mattress company Ergoflex the average male Brit will wear his pjs for nearly 2-weeks before washing them and the female Brit for 17 days.

British Newspaper The Daily Mail talked to Professor Sally Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine about the results of the poll and she was ‘horrified.’

Bloomfield said waiting that long between washings can cause skin infections, cystitis and even MRSA due to all the skin cells and other bacteria that can get into cuts and other areas where they don’t belong.

“Pajamas are against your skin. You shed skin cells at a vast rate all the time. They are full of microorganisms. We all have skin and gut organisms that are usually not harmful on our skin and in our gut. But if they get into the wrong place they can cause problems. Quite a lot of us carry staphylococcus bacteria, which can cause infections if they get into cuts and bruises,” said Bloomfield in a written statement released by Ergoflex along with the poll results.

"We all carry E Coli bacteria in our bowel. Again, most strains are not harmful. But if they get into the urinary tract they can cause infection. That would cause cystitis (a urinary tract infection). Some people carry MRSA, which is obviously gets very hard to treat, especially with antibiotic resistance."

The poll finds the biggest excuse for the lax washing for women was that they alternate between several pairs of pajamas, while men blamed the fact that they only wear them for a few hours every night.

“If you change out of your pajamas you could transfer the microbes on to other clothing. When you put your pajamas in the wash if they get heavily contaminated with microbes, they will be transferred to all the other linen in the wash,” said Bloomfield. “They could be transferred to other people.”

Bloomfield says washing should get rid of most microbes, but not all if you have worn them for two weeks.

“The clothes won’t be hygienically cleaned because the microbes will have built up, so they will be transferred to underwear and other clothing that comes into contact with the skin,” said Bloomfield. “This is particularly important if you live in a student flat of five or six people, or a family of two adults and three children.”

Health experts recommend you wash your pjs at least once a week.