After reading this article, I am dirty...

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Pursue a healthy living environment

It has become a development focus of the country and society

at the same time

As people's material living standards improve

The impact of the macro environment

People's cleaning concepts and cleaning habits

Also making progress

Dyson's recently released "Global Dust Research Report"1 (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") shows that more and more people are aware of the health threats posed by dust, and the awareness level of Chinese respondents' families is relatively leading in the world - 82% of families have realized that indoor dust may cause diseases (such as asthma).

About half of the Chinese respondents said they wanted to remove dust in order to avoid threats to their family members’ health. Both of these perceptions are higher than the global average.

Report 1 surveyed 12,309 respondents in 11 countries around the world, including China, revealing the differences in cleaning concepts and habits among different families, and conducting in-depth research on their understanding of indoor dust and its potential health hazards, providing a reference for targeted indoor health education and more targeted deep cleaning solutions in the future.

Dyson's 2022 Global Dust Study1 reveals multiple contradictions in the cleaning concepts, habits and methods of Chinese households

In the survey of the Chinese market, it can be found that the interviewees' families still have multiple contradictions in their views on cleaning, cleaning habits and cleaning methods. On the one hand, although their awareness of dust is ahead of the world, they still do not fully understand the fundamental reasons why dust threatens human health.

On the other hand, anxiety about dust prompts us to clean our homes more frequently, but we unknowingly fall into a vicious circle of "diligent but not meticulous", ignoring the "invisible dust".

Out of sight, out of mind?

"Invisible dust" becomes a blind spot in cognition and cleaning

The breadth of knowledge of dust and its hazards among Chinese households is among the highest in the world, and such high knowledge is often accompanied by high anxiety - the report1 points out that in China, 38% of people are "extremely worried" about dust in their homes.

This result is also reflected in people's cleaning habits. Report 1 shows that more than three-quarters of Chinese respondents perform deep cleaning at least once a month, which is much higher than the global average of 63%. At the same time, more than half of people will perform routine cleaning according to the plan. From this point of view, Chinese respondents undoubtedly attach great importance to indoor cleaning and are quite hardworking.

However, being "highly alert" to dust and seemingly diligent cleaning does not mean that we have mastered the correct deep cleaning methods to ensure a clean and healthy home environment. "Invisible dust" is still a blind spot in people's cognition and cleaning.

This is also confirmed in Report 1, where only 3% of people believe that the excrement of dust mites in the house is also one of the main sources of dust. 36% of Chinese families are surprised that dust mite excrement is a key component of dust, which is the highest proportion among all the surveyed countries.

Not only that, only 23% of Chinese respondents realized that dust mite excrement is one of the main causes of allergic symptoms, while the highest awareness of this is in Japan, which is also an Asian country. In Japan, this figure is as high as 45%.

Apparently, even though most people are aware of the possible link between dust and illnesses such as asthma, they still don’t understand the “causative agent” behind these illnesses and symptoms.

Due to the superficial cognition, when people do not know the specific components and reasons of dust that affect human health, they will naturally ignore the cleaning of these "invisible dust" in the home. Indoor soft furnishings including sofas, mattresses, curtains, etc., as a "breeding ground" for the breeding of dust mites and accumulation of dust mite excrement, are still a blind spot in cleaning for most Chinese families.

Mattresses in particular: despite people spending one-third of their lives in bed, nearly 70% (69%) of Chinese respondents still neglect to dust their mattresses during daily cleaning.

Report 1 points out that there are blind spots in cleaning that are ignored by the Chinese households surveyed

"Dead skin cells shed by humans and pets are the main food source for dust mites. Mattresses are where we spend the most time, so naturally, they are also where dandruff easily accumulates," said Joanne Kang, a Dyson microbiology researcher. "Our bodies secrete sweat, creating an environment with moderate humidity on the mattress. At the same time, the inner structure of soft furnishings such as mattresses has a lot of fibers, the environment is very dark, and it is easy to lock in moisture, thus forming an environment with very suitable temperature, humidity and light intensity. In this environment, dust mites can reproduce in large numbers and excrete a large amount of dust particles such as excrement every day."

The excrement of dust mites is one of the important allergens that may affect human health.

Living with pets poses health risks

What exactly did the “strictest pet owner” overlook?

The survey data on pet-owning families in Report 1 also showed the same leadership and limitations, further making us realize that the respondents neglected "invisible dust" and had blind spots in daily cleaning.

The report1 shows that for Chinese pet-keeping families, whether they have cats or dogs, the pet owners2 interviewed have strict restrictions on the activities and rest of their pets on the mattress. Only about 20% of the pet owners2 interviewed allow their pets to move around on their beds, making China one of the countries with the "strictest" restrictions on pets among the many interviewed markets.

At the same time, among the Chinese respondents, 53% of the pet owners2 surveyed comb their pets' hair at least once a week; and about a quarter (27%) of the pet owners2 surveyed use vacuum cleaner accessories specially designed for pets to comb their pets' hair, which is the highest proportion in the world.

Report 1 Data reveals the advantages and limitations of Chinese pet owners 2

However, behind the meticulous care of their pets, as many as three quarters (74%) of the pet owners are unaware that dust mite excrement, one of the common allergens, can also attach to their pets, which is higher than the global average.

In addition, less than half (41%) of the pet owners surveyed2 perform daily cleaning of their pet’s nest, which is also one of the important places for dust mites to breed.

“Many people think pet hair is the biggest problem because it’s the most visible,” said Monika Stuczen, a Dyson microbiology scientist. “It’s not surprising that people don’t realise there may be other particles attached to their pets because these particles are often microscopic in size.”

Dr. Wei Taotao, a researcher at the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said: "House dust mites and their excrement particles in the home environment are mainly concentrated in mattresses, pet nests, sofas, carpets and other places with more skin debris. They can also be diffused with air flow and settle on the bottom, top, corners and fabric decorations of furniture." He also emphasized: "Eliminating house dust mites in the environment is a key step in reducing the incidence of house dust mite-related allergic reactions, especially for reducing the frequency of related diseases such as asthma."