I'm a microbiologist, this is the best time of day to shower and here's why

Extra.ie​

22-05-2025

Are you a morning or a night shower person? If you said night, you're wrong, according to a microbiologist.
While many would say there's nothing better than getting into a hot shower after a long day at work and 'washing the day away', one expert has said that showering in the morning is the real deal.
Speaking on RTE's Drivetime, Associate Professor in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Leicester, Dr Primrose Freestone, explained that if you shower in the morning, sweat and 'anything that you've picked up from your bed' overnight will be washed away, making way for a fresh start to the day. Are you a morning or a night shower person? Pic: Shutterstock
She said: 'I personally prefer, based on the signs and personal experience, to shower in the morning because anything that you've picked up from your bed, however clean you might be, and any sweating overnight, it's all washed away and you start the next day.'
Also in agreement with morning showerers is Immunologist Prof Annie Curtis, noting that skin cells actually shed more during the night, meaning that washing them off in the morning is optimal.
Speaking to Drivetime's Cormac Ó hEadhra, she explained: 'Basically, these skin cells, that's basically the food for our bacteria, and when they're well fed, then they can start breaking down our sweat, and that's what gives us the body odour. While many would say there's nothing better than getting into a hot shower after a long day at work and 'washing the day away', one expert has said that showering in the morning is the real deal. Pic: Getty Images
'From a circadian [biological process] point of view, I would be going with the morning shower, because you're sloughing off your skin cells more during the night than you are during the day.'
While many people believe that body odour is caused by sweat, that is actually not strictly true.
The 'sweaty smell' is caused by bacteria that live on the surface of the skin, which use sweat as a nutrient source. Associate Professor in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Leicester, Dr Primrose Freestone, explained that if you shower in the morning, sweat and 'anything that you've picked up from your bed' overnight will be washed away, helping people start the day fresh. Pic: Shutterstock
According to the American Society for Microbiology, some common skin bacteria that produce body odour include members of Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus and Cutibacterium genera.
Adding to the discussion, Dr Freestone said: 'When you shower in the evening, and it's wonderful, you go into bed nice and fresh, if that makes you nice, you know, sleep well and whatever, that's absolutely great. However, you will still sweat during the night.
'Your bacteria on your skin will still eat that sweat and in the morning, however sort of clean you might have been when you got into bed, you will actually be a little bit on the smelly side and of course, you don't stop shedding skin cells, even if you've just showered.
'So they'll be eaten by the fungi in your bed, especially if you've not washed your sheets often.'
She added: 'And of course those ubiquitous house mites, they'll gobble your skin cells up.'