Our bodies are under constant attack throughout the day from germs, toxins, pollutants and other harmful substances.  While we may try our best to minimize exposure to these pollutants, it is a daunting challenge.  And the question remains…how great an assault can our bodies take from the vile concoctions mixed in with our food, cosmetics, work environment, and household products before they collapse?  This is a question that no one can answer, but it stands to reason that the human immune system has its limits.

While it may come as no surprise that pollution is ubiquitous with far-reaching health consequences, many Americans would be shocked to realize that toxic emissions from bedroom chemicals may be one of our most significant sources of daily exposure to pollution.  Bedroom pollutants have multiple origins including chemicals, pest infestation and electric and magnetic fields (EMF). Whether your bedroom is a simply furnished room or an elaborate designer masterpiece, bedrooms are laden with chemicals emanating from paints, varnishes, carpeting, furniture, dry cleaned clothing, cleaners (including polish), books, magazines, window treatments, televisions and stereo equipment, bathroom chemicals, and plug-in air fresheners.  And perhaps one of the greatest offenders is the one item in our bedroom with which we are intimately familiar …our mattress. 

Each night, we approach our mattress with minimal clothing and lay down on our mattress for a seemingly restful and restorative night’s sleep.  But in reality, while resting on a conventional mattress we are breathing in, absorbing, and exposing our bodies to a slew of chemicals from synthetic fibers, paddings, pillows, fillings, and bed linens, as well as the allergens that can disrupt our sleep patterns and negatively affect our health.

Our mattresses emit gases from the toxic soup of components and applications used to create them.  From the polyurethane foam in the padding, to the fire retardants and anti-microbial additives, conventional mattresses can continue to release these dangerous gases for years after their production.  And even after the mattress has completed outgassing (if this ever actually occurs), it’s synthetic and chemically based construction provides a hospitable environment to dust and dust mites, whose excrement is the number one trigger for asthmatic attacks. 

What’s worse, chemical exposure from conventional mattresses includes chemical additives that you will not find disclosed on the label. These include polyester-cotton blends used for "ticking," vinyl for water resistance (used on both hospital and children's bedding,) Dacron polyester (a polymer polyester) for batting and polyurethane urethane foam (made from polyol and TDI or toluene diisocyanate), to name a few.

Are You Being Told the Truth About Your Mattress?

The next time you shop for a mattress, check with the sales person for a disclosure sheet that itemizes the ingredients and lists the potential health hazards of the product. The list should inform you that TDI or toluene diisocyanate, a likely component of your new mattress, is recognized as a human carcinogen, and that exposure to this chemical can cause respiratory problems such as bronchitis and asthma. Liver damage, blood disorders and breathing problems have been linked with vinyl chloride monomers, another known human carcinogen.  Boric acid is a multipurpose roach powder that is commonly used as a fire retardant on mattress. Yet, chronic exposure with this chemical has been associated with reproductive, liver and kidney problems.  Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that you would ever be given such information from the mattress manufacture or from the mattress salesperson.  The absence of this information at the time of purchase prevents you as a consumer from making an informed decision regarding your health and that of the environment.

In addition to the chemicals emitted from our mattress, we increase our exposure even further by wrapping ourselves in sheets and blankets made from synthetic fibers, or pesticide laden natural fibers that are soaked in additional chemicals.  While wrinkle-free bedding may sound good on a package label, the price we pay is exposure to unnecessary and increasing levels of dangerous chemicals such as the notorious carcinogen, formaldehyde. 

As our skin is our largest organ and most porous entry point into our bodies, it is important to remember that what goes onto the skin will also go through the skin.  It is often said that what touches our skin ends up in our cells, a frightening adage to consider the next time you are pondering a purchase of bedding, clothing, or cosmetics.  Without realizing it, we may make hundreds of decisions each day that place convenience over our health. 

Polyfill pillows are economical, but are they worth the price that the body must pay?  They may be cheap and hypoallergenic, but these pillows are made of synthetic chemical fibers or foam feathers that have been disinfected with undisclosed chemicals.  These components may be a source of chemical contaminants as well as allergens when inhaled and absorbed into the body through the skin and lungs.

The cumulative effects of these chemical exposures may express themselves in a number of ways, from poor quality sleep resulting from insomnia or overheating, to allergic reactions, to more even critical health concerns such as respiratory distress and the development of cancer.  Doctors and health experts agree that sleep is critical to improving and even just maintaining our health.  But many of today’s mattresses, while they may be comfortable, do little to promote our health.  In fact, most standard conventional mattresses may well be actually harmful to our health. 

The cumulative impact of the myriad of chemicals that we are exposed to on a long-term basis is an issue that may continue to plague us through the years.   Chronic chemical exposure has the potential to significantly decrease our health over time. 

Whether your interest is environmental or health concerns, it is worthwhile to bear in mind that it is probably not the effects of one chemical or pollutant that will necessarily cause you health problems over time.  Rather, it is the sum total of our chemical input that ultimately affects and influences the long-term health of both our bodies and our environment.  Simple changes in habits that help you avoid chemical exposures can do wonders for building a healthier system, both human and environmental.

So how on earth do we know a healthy mattress from a toxic one?