The bedroom is supposed to be a place of rest and relaxation. For some, it is also the place for romance. Nothing ruins rest, relaxation, and romance more quickly than foul odors. If your bedroom smells bad, you are not likely to enjoy using it. So what do you do?

Like all foul odors in the home, bad odors in the bedroom are the result of something that can be identified and rectified. The first step is to sniff around your room and see if you can locate where the odor is strongest. Find that place and you are one step closer to identifying the source of the bad smells.

Bad Odors from the Bed

As gross as it may sound, a lot of smelly bedrooms are the result of bad odors emanating from the bed. These bad odors can be caused by lots of different things. Right off the top is perspiration and body oil. Your sheets, pillowcases, and mattress topper all absorb them while you sleep.

Consider this: we Americans like to shower first thing in the morning. That’s fine, but that means we go to bed dirty. When you combine daily dirt with perspiration and body oil, there is a lot of nasty stuff being transferred to bed linens. The end result is a bed that smells bad. Here’s what you can do:

• Wash your bed linens at least once a week
• Treat the top of your mattress with carpet deodorizer while the sheets are being washed
• Crack a window or use a fan to keep air circulating at night
• Leave the bed unmade on weekends in order to air it out.

Bad Odors from Elsewhere

If you determine the bad odors in your bedroom are not coming from the bed, there could be other sources. Do you keep a laundry basket or hamper in the corner? If so, how frequently do you wash your clothes? If you are doing laundry less frequently than twice per week, it could be that the smells permeating your bedroom are coming from your laundry basket. The solution is easy: increase the frequency with which you do the laundry.

If your bedroom has an en suite bathroom, the smells you think are coming from the bedroom might actually be coming from the bathroom. Any signs of mold or mildew in the shower or around the fixtures could be the culprit. Check the exhaust fan as well. If you take the cover off and see mold built up inside, you may have found the problem.

Toilets that are not regularly cleaned can emanate foul odors even if they don’t look dirty. And of course, bacteria growing in the sink plumbing can also be problematic.

Freshening the Air in Your Home

Hopefully you will be able to identify the source of bad smells in the bedroom. But even after you take care of the problem, your brain might still be telling you that something smells bad. That’s the way it goes sometimes. You may have to freshen the air throughout your home to get that sensation to go away.

A good way to do so is to use an HVAC whole-home diffuser and some essential oils. According to the makers of the Zephyr Fresh home scenting system, essential oils contain volatile compounds that can be rather aromatic. Find an essential oil you like and it could solve all the odor problems in your home for good.

Yes, the bedroom can be a source of foul odors. If yours smells bad, it is time to find the source and deal with it.