There are some wonderful natural materials available now that you can use to create a low-tox and healthy bed, which will enhance your sleep and wellbeing. It can be confusing to know what the best natural materials are and where they should be used to choose the best option for you. If you begin with understanding some of the basics first you will be more aware and able to make better choices that creates a healthier lifestyle and suits your budget.
As you spend a lot of time sleeping in your bed, it has a huge impact on your health. Your body needs to adequately recharge and detoxify itself during sleep. Your sleep will be affected by the quality of the air you breathe in around your bed. This is even more important for people with allergies, asthma and respiratory issues. Some of the main factors that influence this air quality can be related to the environment around your bed, including your bed itself.
Selecting ‘natural’ materials
In three simple steps, you can look to create a more low-tox bed. There are a number of ‘natural’ materials around but you need to understand the ‘full’ story and check if the end product is still natural. There are certification systems around now that can help guide you too, like GOT’s certification, which is the most stringent standard in the textile industry.
Things that I consider when selecting natural materials for beds are:
- Is it grown organically or bio dynamically (without any toxic chemicals)?
- Is it processed in a way that doesn’t require chemicals and high-energy methods to make it into a useable fabric (ie: bamboo)?
- Is it dyed with chemicals at the end to colour?
- Is it imported, as it will likely be sprayed with chemicals upon arrival to Australia? (ie: anti-fungal; flame retardants)
- Is it Australian grown, designed and/or manufactured?
- Is it breathable and natural insulator?
- Is it washable?
- Is it durable?
- Is it naturally hypoallergenic, anti-bacterial and has no irritants?
Some of the best natural materials that I have found the best to use and would recommend are:
- organic cotton (non-organic cotton has a lot of issues and would avoid)
- hemp (usually available in a 55% hemp/ 45% organic cotton blend)
- linen
- silk
- latex
- wool (not recommended for people with allergies/ asthmatics)
- coir (coconut fibre)
1- Start with your mattress
Your mattress is one of the most important areas of your bed to improve first. Its also one of the most expensive so you will need to take into account your personal situation when working through this item. If you have are looking to purchase a new mattress and/or have one that is around 10years old, consider the more natural options available. If you have a recently purchased synthetic mattress, consider understanding the health issues and take measures to reduce these as recommended.
Your standard mattress is likely to contain materials that are synthetic and off-gassing chemicals like formaldehyde and flame-retardants into your breathing zone at night. Flame retardant chemicals have been detected in most people and are linked with learning and behavioural disorders like autism (Bijlsma 2017). Their ability to reduce the ease of ignition and flame propagation has even come under scrutiny when one recent fire test only showed a 3-second delay in ignition compared with untreated foam (Bijlsma 2017).
Over time your mattress will also harbour house dust mites (HDM) and microorganisms like mould and bacteria as the moisture that accumulates from your sweat and bed wedding for children.
Start by keeping your mattress well ventilated with age-old, common sense practices of allowing air to circulate around it. Aim to have it raised off the ground, with a slatted wooden base to breath with nothing stored underneath it and air it regularly in the sun. Some of us probably have memories of grandparents or parents doing this! This is inexpensive and if you live in an apartment aim to at least position it near a window with sun for a day.
Mattresses and their casings should all be made from natural fibres such as organic cotton, hemp, wool, coir or natural rubber (latex). Wool should be avoided if you have allergies or asthma (as it can still be a conducive environment for HDM but is effective in reducing bacteria). Latex should be 100% pure, natural latex (not synthetic; ‘taralay’ types), which is ideal for allergy and asthma sufferers and supports good health. Its hypo-allergic, non-toxic, anti-microbial, dust-mite and bed bug resistant and contaminant free. It’s also naturally flame resistant (so you don’t need flame retardants).
There are a number of companies around Qld that sell these types of natural mattresses. These natural mattresses also have a longer lifespan than standard synthetic ones, some natural latex brands in particular note a 25-year warranty. So this should be seen as an investment (financially and for your health) and be looked after accordingly to prolong its lifespan. There are some good natural options available for cots and babies too, we previously used tea-tree filled ones for our babies. At the very least, avoid using foam made from petrochemicals and off gassing chemicals into your babies breathing zone.
Another important item in your mattresses that can affect your sleep is the metal inner springs. These can interfere with your biological rhythms by disturbing your body’s electrical field and contribute to tiredness and health issues. That is why a lot of natural mattresses (or futons) don’t have metal bedsprings in them. Have a look at these short videos by Steven Magee who wrote ‘Toxic Electricity’ and visually demonstrates this here and here and how you can test this yourself at home with a simple compass. Another good case study here shows you another test in a bedroom that explains it well also. We should all be aware of this but this could be a critical item for a person with electrical hypersensitivity symptoms to consider. It’s important to avoid using a metal bed frame for the same reasons.
2- Create a healthy ‘barrier’ with a mattress protector
If you can’t afford to purchase a new mattress (or one for every member of the family at this point) and your old one does contain synthetic materials, it is wise to consider a healthy mattress protector. This will help to reduce your exposure by providing a bit of a barrier to off-gassing chemicals from the mattress. It will also protect the mattress and reduce your exposure to HDM. Protector covers should be HDM resistant and made from: organic cotton, hemp or pure eucalyptus fibres. Again, if you have asthma/ allergies it is better to avoid wool. Some say wrap your mattress in plastic underneath to contain the off-gassing chemicals, however I feel this would create a moisture issue by increasing the humidity in the mattress and not let it breath, possibly leading to mould and bacterial growth and another issue to deal with.
Air your mattress protector regularly in the sun, especially if it’s washable (some natural materials like wool aren’t). The washability of a natural mattress protector is an important consideration for a child’s bed, considering the years where they may be bed-wedding and you don’t want to spend money on it to have it destroyed! I feel that organic cotton mattress protectors appear to be the better option for kids beds as they can be washed (as opposed to wool which cant) however these can be more expensive. However if you are seriously looking at investing in your child’s health, a natural mattress protector will be about 25% of the cost of a natural mattress so you may justify this as being a more economical option for the lifespan of them using a single bed. When you allow this factor of time (say 15 years), and purchase a good quality item once it works out to be around $25 per year, which is pretty reasonable. Again, consider the natural options available, your budget and to what degree you’d like to create a healthy, natural and low-tox home for your family.
3- Use natural materials that touch your body
The most affordable and simplest option to low-tox your bed is to replace the bed linen that your body is in contact with to natural, healthier materials. Natural fabrics for bed linen should all be washable and includes: organic cotton; hemp/ organic cotton blends; silk and linen.
Some lovely natural options are available from ethical companies like: Blessed Earth (organic cotton/ wool) & Hemp Gallery (hemp). The Natural Bedding Company (Linen) also has some nice ones but they don’t note natural dyes so possibly lean towards using more natural/ undyed fabrics.
Avoid bamboo materials as they are only natural in their raw fibre state and are not a sustainable, healthy or natural product in the end when you purchase it. To process the hard fibre into a soft textile requires chemical processing, finishing treatments, wastewater and fabric dyes at the end can be full of toxic chemicals harmful to you and the environment. There is a good article on this here by a natural bed linen company Elkie & Ark here. As there is no regulatory body overseeing this area in Australia, most of these ‘natural’ products that we are sold aren’t. We can at least be more aware of this and chose better. Previously, I had been buying bamboo products thinking this was a good natural choice and disappointed to research this and find out that they aren’t.
Pillows should also be made from organic cotton & latex. Ones with wool and feathers should be avoided for people with asthma/ allergies sufferers as can harbour HDM. Feathers should be from traceable sources (animal not killed for feathers). Coverings should be made from: organic cotton, hemp, linen and silk. Pillows should also be replaced every 2 years (18 months if you suffer allergies) and aired in sun regularly for optimal health whilst sleeping. I have found a number of good, healthy pillows available that im happy to recommend also.
Invest in your health & wellbeing
Treat your bed as an investment in your health and wellbeing and you will be rewarded in the long run. You can also look at the health of your whole bedroom in an article I’ve written here or download a free guide to selecting natural materials for your house here.
For a holistic health check of your whole house, we offer Healthy Home Audits to check which areas may be affecting you and your family the most. For any other natural and healthy design and building services, please contact us or visit our website for more information.
