Many people ask why they should spend more for an organic mattress. My first answer to them always revolves around off-gassing and improving your home’s air quality. We spend a third of our life sleeping in our beds! When you think of your bedroom, your blankets and mattress, your little sanctuary, a sense of peacefulness comes to mind. You want the best for this time in your life since it’s where you go for revival and comfort. Toxic chemicals don’t exactly belong in this situation.
Recently, many studies have become popular showing the staggering amount of toxic chemicals used in making many mattresses. These chemicals affect the indoor air quality of your bedroom through the process of “off-gassing.” This off-gassing occurs when VOCs (volatile organic compounds) begin to break down, releasing the gas from the chemicals into the surrounding environment, contaminated your indoor air quality.
Since the Industrial Revolution, natural materials for healthy mattresses, or what we would now call an organic mattress, have been substituted for petroleum-based synthetics. Depending on the type of conventional mattress you choose, the compounds used can include:
– highly toxic flame retardants, like PBDEs, boric acid, antimony oxide and organophosphates
– petroleum-based foam
– vinyl
– phthalates
– styrene and butadiene (synthetic latex)
– formaldehyde
These materials and toxic chemicals are used in almost every stage of the process. The foam used as a layering agent in mattresses is usually petroleum-based. Since petroleum is a highly-flammable substance, most foams are full of flame retardants. Many of these flame retardants are controversial due to their effects on human health. In addition, many of the fabrics and fibers used in mattresses undergo chemical treatments. Pesticides are used to repel dust mites, which love the warm, moist environment of a mattress. One of the most common materials used in mattresses and bedding is conventional cotton. Conventionally-grown cotton is considered one of the dirtiest crops since it requires such heavy applications of pesticides. In fact, cotton covers only 2.5 % farmland, yet it accounts for 16% of all pesticide use! Even though some pesticides wash out when cotton is laundered, most mattresses are not constructed in a way that they can be disassembled and washed.
When these toxic chemicals are released into the bedroom, they contaminate the indoor air quality of your home. These compounds and chemicals have a lasting effect on the individual breathing them in. In fact, inhalation of these materials disturbs almost every part of the body in some way. As scary as all this information is, there is such thing as a healthy mattress! As environmentally-minded consumers have become more aware of the dangers lurking in their mattresses, demand has grown for an eco-friendly alternative. More and more, people are turning to organic mattresses.
An organic mattress is made up entirely of natural materials. When sleeping on a truly organic mattress, you are not exposing yourself to the toxins found in conventional beds because your mattress has been treated naturally through every stage of the process – from farming the materials to packaging the product. It’s possible to make an organic mattress meet the same requirements that a non-organic mattress has. From natural flame resistant properties such as natural latex to organic dust mite covers, an organic mattress has it all. The most important factor, however, is how an organic mattress means healthy indoor air quality. When choosing an organic mattress, you are taking an important step in ensuring the air in your family’s home — and your little sanctuary — is healthy, and stays healthy. A mattress company can make many environmental claims but the best way to research whether a mattress is truly eco-friendly is to look for environmental certifications. Not all certification programs are equal, so it pays to do your research!
Many mattress companies have developed organic and eco-friendly mattresses as the demand for these products has risen. With so many choices and greenwashing running rampant in the mattress industry, the trick is to find a truly eco-friendly mattress. That’s where we come in! Check out our list of organic and eco-friendly mattresses to find the bed that suits your budget and lifestyle best.