These 5 Michigan Bugs Are Crawling on You in Your Sleep

You like bugs crawling on you in your sleep? Yeah, me neither.

I used to live in a house where the main bedroom was on the lowest level - sort of a walkout basement, if you will. Being mostly underground, the room was inherently darker and surrounded on three sides by moist earth - the perfect habitat for house centipedes.

SEE ALSO: These Michigan Cities Have the Biggest Problems With Bedbugs

Centipedes are beneficial organisms. They actually eat a lot of the other pests we typically don't want in our homes, such as spiders and other insects. However, no one wants a centipede to fall on them from the ceiling while they're sleeping. This actually happened to me three different times in that basement bedroom. I think I invented mattress karate.

Thankfully, centipedes aren't one of the most common bugs that crawl on us in Michigan while we sleep. Below are the ones that are.

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Fleas

Lots of us like to share our beds with our pets, but this can mean sharing our beds with fleas as well. Bites from these bloodthirsty pests can lead to bacterial infections or worse.

Mosquitoes

As the weather gets warmer, it's tempting to sleep with the windows open. This can make it easier for mosquitoes to get in.

Pro tip: sleep with a fan on. A good circulation of air can make mosquitoes less interested in hanging around.

Chiggers

Just like dogs and cats can bring in fleas and ticks, people can bring chiggers in from outside. If you've been out in the weeds or woods, chiggers may cling to your clothes and hitch a ride inside. Their bites can cause some serious itching, but you can get rid of chiggers pretty easily by throwing any clothing, sheets, comforters or other fabrics that may have been in contact with them into a hot wash.

Bed Mites

Now we're getting to the gross ones. Bed mites are also known as dust mites. They're teeny-tiny organisms that reside in house dust and munch on the dead skin cells that slough off from us in our beds. They're not going to bite you, but they could cause allergies.

Bedbugs

Other than the fact that they serve as food for some spiders, we can't come up with anything positive to say about bedbugs. These little reddish-brown bloodsuckers aren't known to spread disease, but they can make your life miserable if you've got them. If you've been somewhere that has bedbugs, be very careful not to accidentally bring them into your home. They can be difficult to get rid of.