Sweet Sleep

If you're reading this, you probably already know that there are harmful chemicals in so many mainstream day to day items.  The ones that are most common place are the ones that seem to be overlooked the most, at least in my experience.  It seems that some items are so much a part of our daily lives that we just never stop to think about the harmful effects that they can have on our health.

One such item is your mattress.  The place your body welcomes each night as it's place to recover from the events of the day.  Did you know that the average person sleeps about 1/3 of their lifetime.  If I live to be 90, I will have slept for 30 years.  Thirty years breathing in and absorbing toxic VOCs.  Can you imagine.  Do you want to?

The good thing is that you don't have to.  There are lots of options out there.  A couple of main ones, but so many choices.

The most expensive (but effective!) option is going to be simply buying a non-toxic mattress.  Naturepedic makes wonderful safe, organic mattresses.  A set will run you around $1600, or mattress only for around $1200.  I have one of Naturepedic's crib mattresses and it is truly fantastic.  I hope to one day upgrade our bed to a Naturepedic mattress.

Purchasing a safe mattress is the preferred choice on this topic.  It will provide you with the safest environment and be the most comfortable.

The Clean Bedroom carries a great assortment of safe mattress pads.  They have some up to an inch and a half thick, which would really be a great benefit when going over the above polyethylene cover.  You can get a nice cover for a queen size starting around $150-200, going all the way up to around $400.  You could go the route of just using a safe and natural topper, but know that it alone can't block the offgassing of a mattress.

So what's so bad?  Well, that's simple, and complicated.  The simple answer is toxic chemicals.  There are lots of synthetic materials and chemicals used on today's mattresses.  Flame retardants are one danger.  If you were to purchase a mattress today, it will not contain PBDE retardants. Production of PBDE fire retardants in the United States was discontinued in 2004 and totally phased out by early 2005.  They were cause for great concern.  They have been replaced by other chemicals though that are considered 'safe'.... for now.  When will they learn?

There are a whole host of other materials used in mattresses that contain harmful chemicals. For more information about what is in mattresses and what's not in some safe mattresses, browse through these pages from Naturepedic.  What's in.  What's not.


I would also like to note that if you are concerned about your infant/toddler's mattress you can also purchase safe crib mattresses for Naturepedic (they have several models), as well as crib mattress wraps and covers.  Using safe bedding is considered to be a move in the right direction to prevent SIDS.