February is heart health month. One in three women will die of heart diseases and one in four men. Yoga can be the answer to a healthier heart but don’t forget to clean your yoga mat.
Stress increases your risk factors for heart disease. Yoga is the perfect exercise to reduce stress.
So what can you do to take better care of your heart?
Reduce your risk factors. Eat more fruits and vegetables, stop smoking, know your risk, reduce stress and be physically active. Yoga is a perfect activity to reduce stress and keep your body active.
Going regularly to yoga classes means you’ll be using your yoga mat often. Yoga mats are a magnet for germs. Research shows that yoga mats can harbor more germs than smartphones, toilets and airplane seats combined.
But how can you keep your yoga mat clean?
Wipes and sprays are expensive and don’t really work. Clean your yoga mat effectively.
Wipes and sprays are a good start but they can miss areas. UVC light can be an option but not when it can’t penetrate the pores where pathogens love to multiply.
Peace of mind is important. A clear mind starts with a clean mat. MatFresher brushes away dirt and debris, kills germs with powerful UVC light, and sprays mats with an essential oil spritz that smells great. Isn’t it time to clean your yoga mat?
Does your gym or studio haveMatFresher? MatFresher is free to studios. It doesn’t add an expense and provides a new service to your clients. MatFresher costs customers less than the price of a cup of coffee and studios share in the revenue.
UV light can be effective for sanitizing yoga mats.
Sanitizing yoga mats with UV light is new. Consumers have become interested in ultraviolet light for sanitizing surfaces and objects.Research shows that UVC radiation can be highly effective at disinfecting air, water and surfaces. The effectiveness of UV light depends on the amount of light, distance from the surface, and time of exposure.
Not So Simple
It’s not so simple. The surface has to be clean of debris for UVC light to work.Dirt and hair on top of harmful bacteria can make UVC useless. This means that yoga mats need more than just UV light for sanitizing them.
The UV light has to be in contact with the surface for a specific amount of time to be effective. Plus, the dosage of the bulbs matters too. According to theIES Committee on Germicidal Ultraviolet light, the ultraviolet spectral band known as the “UV-C,” from 200 to 280 nanometers (nm), have been shown to be the most effective for disinfection, although longer, less energetic UV can also disinfect if applied in much greater doses.” This means that if the dose of the UV light isn’t strong enough, the duration would need to be longer.
Alternatives
There is a lot of misinformation about how to clean a yoga mat. Some have tried spraying, vacuuming, scrubbing with soap and water, soaking in the bathtub, and even using the washing machine. This can be inconvenient. Plus, they can damage the mat and they don’t really work.
Why MatFresher?
MatFresher is the only hands-free, multi-step solution to clean and sanitize mats. MatFresher brushes away dirt and debris, kills germs with powerful UVC light, and applies an essential oil spritz to leave your mat smelling great. Better than that, mats are automatically rolled and ready to go in 30 seconds. Contact us to learn more.
New CDC cleaning protocols ensure the safety of staff and customers and have resulted in a proliferation of vendors selling cleaning technologies with efficacy claims that are not always easy to understand.
UVC light, to eradicate pathogens on exercise and yoga mats, is one such example. Despite some companies’ claims, a couple of bulbs in their machine, no matter how expensive, does little to make studio-owned mats safe for staff to handle or for customer-owned mats to use.
MatFresher, the patent-pending mat cleaning machine, offers a number of advantages in safety, convenience and cost. Here’s a comparison of MatFresher to Matsana.
UVC Can Be Effective
First, it’s important to understand that UVC light is proven to be highly effective in sanitizing surfaces. Unfortunately, it’s not so simple as just turning on a switch. Two critical requirements are that 1) the proper amount or dosage is applied and 2) the surface is flat.
Dosage
According to international public safety and health organizations, the UVC “gold standard” to provide protection from disease-causing microorganisms is at least 40,000 microwatts per centimeter squared. Cleaning machines that output less don’t meet that standard. And they can’t be relied on to effectively remove 99.99% of bacteria and viruses — as specified by the National Sanitation Foundation International (NSF).
What About Hair and Dirt?
UV light and cleaning liquids can’t remove hair, dust and dirt. Recommendations by vendors to towel clean a mat before you use their machine seems senseless – and totally unhygienic. And what about the added expense of the wipes and towels? When selecting your cleaning machine, look for one that starts with bristle brushes, the third cleaning modality, to effectively eliminate these problems.
Sweaty, Smelly Mats
Hot yoga is popular. And mats become soaked with sweat. No wonder they emit that awful smell know as “yogaroma”! Why is it then that some vendors advise that “mat health” requires drying a mat before using their machine? Following a vendor’s instructions and manually drying a mat means that the health of the user has been forgotten.
How Much Does This Cost?
While it’s true there are vendors selling machines that don’t actually do what they advertise, it’s NOT true that well-engineered machines need to cost you money. During times like these, owner/operators can least afford to invest in cleaning products. It’s important to identify products that MAKE you money instead of cost you money while keeping staff and students safe. Contact us to learn more about MatFresher, the true mat cleaning solution.
As studios and gyms reopen their doors to students and staff, all eyes are on the cleaning measures required to bring peace of mind for all involved. With new levels of cleanliness comes heightened cost for owners/operators. Purchasing cases of wipes and disinfectant sprays is not cheap, particularly now that demand is higher than ever. Added to this, studios incur the cost of disposable masks for staff and infrared thermometers to comply with regulations. No one knows when these measures will be relaxed. Your studio needs to explore ways to boost your revenue.
Not only are there higher cost implications for your gym or studio, safety measures cost your employees more time. As you clean more diligently prior to classes and spend additional time between classes sanitizing, those additional hours clocked are adding to the cost of more cleaning supplies. A hidden cost is the staff time lost on other important activities that don’t get done because of the additional time needed for cleaning, checking temperatures, and following guidelines properly.
The good news (and yes, there is good news) is that it doesn’t have to be this way. What if new cleaning protocols could boost your revenue rather than add to expenses? That’s what we’ve done with MatFresher, the only multi-sanitizing mat cleaning machine.
New expectations
A recent survey by ClassPass indicates that some gym members expect rates to be reduced. They want lower pricing because demand decreased and their safety concerns increased.
As you know, when prices decline in one area, revenue must increase in other areas to balance your ROI impact. Studios and exercise centers should determine a course of action that makes up the deficit for pricing decreases.
Time is Money
Social distancing means fewer students in each class and fewer classes on the schedule. Some studios may opt to continue offering virtual classes for expanding capacity, but how do you ensure that your revenue increases at a time of reduced capacity? While time between classes is increased for cleaning and to reduce contact between those arriving and leaving, fewer classes means lost profits. Your exercise center deserves an opportunity to increase profitability at a time when many members hope for lower fees.
Staff will spend more time disinfecting the studio and equipment between classes, and students will spend less time in the gym before and after class. Now needed is a method of cleaning yoga mats that is quick and effective in order to maintain the flow. More than fast, mat cleaning needs to be thorough and meet safety guidelines.
The MatFresher mat cleaning machine cleans an exercise mat in about 30 seconds, destroying up to 99.99% of harmful pathogens. MatFresher enables your staff and members to practice and clean efficiently – all resulting in a more safely sanitized mat than personal disinfecting would. On top of being the most effective machine of its kind, MatFresher generates new revenue for studios and gyms. MatFresher costs your facility nothing, and your students pay individual for each mat wash. Comparable to a vending machine, you benefit monetarily from those who benefit from a safe and convenient mat cleaning solution inside your walls.
Providing Value
Becoming a MatFresher studio shows students and staff that you take sanitization seriously. It’s a smart way to stand out among other studios and gyms. Some members may look for a location with lower membership fees. However, knowing that you provide peace of mind through strong disinfectant measures may prevent them from doing so.
While saving money on cleaning supplies and machines, you’ll also save your team and students time and energy. If a machine could alleviate some of the revenue and expense challenges currently at play and boost your revenue, at no cost to your studio or exercise center, why not jump at the opportunity? Learn how MatFresher can help you increase revenue today by contacting us.
Now more than ever, sanitization is the top priority for gyms and studios. Hygiene is at the forefront of every employee’s and member’s mind. You are not alone in considering extensive measures to ensure safety and peace of mind for your clientele. Recent surveys indicate that students are not sure when they will feel secure returning to a live studio class. With this in mind, there is no room for returning to the previous methods of studio or yoga mat sanitization. Proactively promoting innovative, healthy, clean, and green cleaning practices is vital to retaining customers and growing check-ins.
The Old Way
Not long ago, mat cleaning was little more than a quick wipe down of a yoga mat after class – often not much more effective than shifting sweat from one place to another. As students made small talk or discussed plans for the upcoming week with a class instructor, one side of a mat typically received a haphazard cleaning, while the other side remained dirty. Even with the best intentions, any clean areas of the mat could inadvertently touch those that were still germ-ridden, and any hope of a completely sanitized mat was lost.
Whether your studio has tasked staff members with cleaning studio-owned mats or previously allowed members to bring and clean their own, the sanitization of equipment is only as effective as the effort made in doing so, and even then, effectively leaves safety up to chance.
The Problems
Along with providing sanitizer and masks to staff or students, your studio will undoubtedly stock mat cleaning sprays and wipes. While these measures may sound reassuring to members, there are three key problems at hand.
The most powerful mat cleaning products only fulfill their purpose if utilized thoroughly, and, even then, mat bacteria may linger. After precious time spent cleaning, it’s unfortunate that germs are still clinging to your yoga and exercise mats.
With wipes, sprays and mat cleaning equipment in high demand, these products will become more difficult to find and, as a result, create higher expenses for your studio. Also, with the expectation for memberships to drop due to current events, additional overhead costs are not ideal. Relying on the unpredictable availability of these supplies does not secure peace of mind among staff and studio members.
Along with the precarious supply chain, exercise mat cleaners present a significant green problem. As more yoga mat wipes and sprays are utilized, the wipes and plastic containers find their way to landfills. One way to solve this challenge is to create a DIY yoga mat cleaner and recycle your bottles. While this may seemingly slow the issue of waste, many advertised methods of DIY cleaning solutions can still contain chemicals that are harsh on an exercise mat. Store-bought cleaning solutions contain chemicals that are unhealthy for close contact by humans and can damage a mat over time.
A Comprehensive Solution
Understanding the negative effects of current yoga mat washing products and methods helps identify a healthy, clean and green solution for your studio. What if there was a system that ensures less waste, more convenience, high efficacy in killing bacteria, more health benefits, and provides a revenue-boost? What may sound too good to be true can be found in MatFresher technology.
While a plethora of products aimed at capitalizing on recent events are now available, MatFresher has been under development for nearly two years, proactively aiming to solve the sanitization problems that few previously noticed. From day one, MatFresher’s objective has been to transform the way studios and their members clean their mats. No longer must safety rely on students or staff understanding how to clean a mat properly. MatFresher provides peace of mind by cleaning mats quickly with an 99.99% effective germ killing all-natural solution. Also, MatFresher generates meaningful new revenue for your studio.
What’s Next For Your Studio
This is a turning point within the exercise industry and society as a whole. Why should your studio rely on cleaning chemicals that are not healthy for the environment, your staff and students, your yoga mats, your time, or your cleaning budget? With MatFresher, your studio community can feel confident practicing together safely with sanitized mats. Studios will enact new safety measures that limit a member’s time within the studio between classes. MatFresher provides an effective, fast and convenient way for mat washing that doesn’t disturb the flow of classes.
Never has there been as much pressure or responsibility on studio owners to get sanitization right. Let MatFresher lift the cleanliness burden cleanliness by creating a healthy, clean and green studio environment. Learn more about the revolutionary yoga mat cleaning machine.
