SOUL + BODY: Make Your Bedroom a Chemical-free Sanctuary

Last July, the Consumer Products Safety Commission mandated that new mattresses become dramatically more fire resistant: Since 1973, a mattress had only to resist a lit cigarette, but now it must withstand a blowtorch flame, two feet wide, for 70 seconds. The new rule makes us more fire-safe, but it also means that mattresses contain more neurotoxic flame retardants, along with heavy metals such as antimony, polyurethane foams made from petroleum, and other harmful chemicals, such as formaldehyde. These chemicals off-gas and may leech into our bodies as we sleep — a time when we need to heal and repair.
I’d always assumed I could purchase a high-quality used mattress and avoid the off-gassing, but I’ve since learned that as mattresses age, the foam breaks down and off-gasses other volatile chemicals. So I decided to “green” my bedroom, heeding the advice of environmental consultant Mary Cordaro, who received Bau-biologist certification from the International Institute for Bau-Biologie & Ecology. Here are some tips:

When you’re ready to replace your mattress, go natural and organic. Your choices range from an organic cotton-and-wool mattress with innerspring to a natural latex mattress wrapped in cotton and wool, an all-wool mattress, an organic cotton futon, or several three-inch “toppers” of wool or cotton or both, layered one on top of the other. Wool is a natural fire-retardant that “wicks” away moisture rather than absorbing it. You’ll need a doctor’s prescription to buy the organic cotton futon in order to circumvent the flame-retardant law, but if you layer cotton toppers, a prescription is not required.
“I personally love natural latex,” says Talia Rose, founder, with her husband, of Organic Grace, a California firm that offers everything from glass baby bottles to bamboo flooring. In the summer, Rose’s family sleeps on a latex mattress in the garden, waking up “to see the egrets and herons flying over us and feeling connected to all of nature.”
I’m a city dweller, so I decided on several wool toppers, which are more economical than an organic mattress — but they do have a light scent of sheep.

Choose organic bedding. Consider buying a mattress cover and pad, sheets, pillowcases, and comforter covers in organic cotton. Regular cotton often has pesticide residue (including ethylene glycol, or antifreeze, which kills bugs in cotton crops) and may be treated with anti-wrinkle formaldehyde. At the very least, run new cotton through the washer and dryer several times to help leech out chemicals. Green-advocate Deborah Lynn Dadd, author of Home Safe Home, recommends adding baking soda to the laundry detergent and then rinsing at the end with vinegar in water (this is said to remove odors and formaldehyde, though its use has not been formally studied). Use cotton or wool blankets or wool-filled comforters.

Choose a healthy pillow. Synthetic and feather pillows both tend to accumulate moisture from your sleeping head, growing dust mites and fungi that breed happily in their protected mini ecosystem. A 2005 study of pillows found up to 16 species of fungi in a single pillow. Go for latex, wool-fill, or “kapok” (a white, fluffy material that is eight times lighter than cotton and comes from the pods of a tree that grows in the tropical rain forests) — all of which resist mites and fungi. At the very least, run pillows through the washer and dryer monthly to keep them clean.

Air out your mattress. Don’t make your bed when you first get up, suggests Talia Rose. “All night long you perspire, and you should let your mattress air out.” Cotton futons and foam-filled mattresses both can grow mold in a moist environment. One partial solution: use a wool mattress pad, which will help keep your sweat from soaking into your mattress.

Be verdant. Plants remove toxins, so literally “green” your green bedroom with lush flora. Plants that clean the air include English ivy, philodendrons, peace lilies, and spider plants.

Use sound. If you can’t sleep in a garden, purchase a sound machine that mimics a natural environment. I’m completely addicted to my portable Sound Oasis machine, which has various sound cards that play actual recordings of ocean surf, rain, chirping birds, thunderstorms, streams, and other nature sounds all night long, without any noticeable repeating loop. Sound Oasis also has a patented technology that slows the rhythm of the sound for 20 minutes, helping lull you to sleep.

Jill Neimark

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Organic Grace’s online store/ organicgrace.com
Sound Oasis/ sound-oasis.com
Mary Cordaro/ h3environmental.com
Debra Lynn Dadd/ dld123.com/index.html