Making the Switch to a Nontoxic Mattress
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Buying a mattress is a big expense, and for the fact that you spend 1/3 of your life on your mattress, it’s also a big decision. When Wiehan and I moved to the U.S., we tried out a hand-me-down mattress from my parents’ guest room. It was terribly uncomfortable and left our backs aching. At the end of 2017, we finally decided that it was time to upgrade to our very own mattress. But, as a health conscious individual who carefully considers every item we purchase, I wanted to make sure that we weren’t spending a lot of money on a product that would bring unnecessary toxins into our environment. I’d always heard that standard mattresses emit off-gases from fire retardants and other harmful chemicals included in the manufacturing. In the quest to find the perfect mattress, I began to do some research, starting with all my favorite natural health blogs.
It was clear that Intellibed was getting the highest reviews. However, they also had the highest price tag, which prevented us from going in that direction. But a lot of my trusted health bloggers recommend Intellibed, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you have the budget for it. After doing all our research, we landed on the Queen-sized Avocado Green Mattress, with the Pillow Top. The company was offering a discount at the time, so our total came out to $1,549.00. With free, carbon-neutral shipping, our mattress arrived all rolled up inside a very heavy box, but expanded quickly into the typical mattress shape. The materials are luxuriously soft and cozy. The stitching is beautiful. And the surface offers the perfect mix of comfort and support. The mattresses do not have chemical flame retardants, polyurethane foams or off-gassing memory foams. According to the website, it’s made up of “100% natural latex rubber, natural wool, certified organic cotton and up to 1,414 pocketed support coils,” made from recycled steel. We love it… and so does our cat!
Our conventional pillows have left us with some neck and shoulder tension. Because of this, I decided to order a set of Avocado Green Mattress’ Queen-sized pillows, as a Christmas gift to Wiehan. Unfortunately, ordering them with their Black Friday deal the day after Thanksgiving didn’t leave enough time for production and shipping, so he received his Christmas gift a few days late. But we still love the new pillows. Filled with natural & organic latex rubber ribbons, natural kapok fiber, and organic cotton, the pillows are much more firm than anticipated. But fortunately the firmness is adjustable, as there is a zipper in the side where excess materials can be removed. If even more firmness is your preference, however, you can order Pillow Refill Bags through the company website for just $15, including free carbon-neutral shipping.
More recently, I learned in the Wise Traditions podcast titled Tech Side Effects, with Shielded Healing owner Brian Hoyer, that it’s actually best to avoid mattresses with metal springs. This was news to me, and a downside to our investment into our mattress. The logic behind this idea is that the metal springs act as an antenna, picking up the EMF radiation pulsating through our 21st century homes and sending that energy directly into our bodies. If you do have a mattress with springs, you can always take steps to minimize this affect by moving your bed several inches away from the wall and turning off your WiFi router at bedtime. To take it a step further, you can even turn off the circuit breaker to your bedroom. It’s also strongly recommended that your cellphone either be turned off at night, placed on airplane mode, or left in another room at nighttime, if you need to leave it on for emergency calls. You can find out more on the topic, and even schedule a home consultation with Brian Hoyer to learn how to minimize EMF exposure, through his Shielded Healing website. And for a deeper dive into the science and history of the affects of EMFs on health, be sure to check out the book The Invisible Rainbow, by Arthur Firstenberg. Avocado Green Mattress now offers the Latex Mattress and the Vegan Latex Mattress without springs.
If you’re seriously considering the large investment of a nontoxic mattress, check out this very comprehensive guide from Wellness Mama. This blog post from Weed ‘Em & Reap was incredibly helpful in our decision-making process, as was this post from The Healthy Home Economist. And be sure to watch our video here! Choosing a mattress is a very individual decision, and what’s right for one person or family, may not work for another. Therefore, it’s important to be able to weigh out all the options before making such a significant investment.
- Christin
Tell us! Have you made the switch to a nontoxic bed? If so, how’s it going?
