Quality sleep is essential for a healthy body. But since we spend ⅓ of our lives in the the bedroom, keeping the bedroom as healthy as can be is also critical for our health and wellness! Start detoxing your bedroom with these 6 essentials…

This post is sponsored by Naturepedic though all thoughts and opinions are of course my own. I’ve been pining for an organic Naturepedic mattress for years and I am so excited to be partnering with such an amazing company that’s completely changing the way we think about sleep! Thank you for supporting the brands that make it possible for me to continue offering free content on Body Unburdened.

---

The bedroom. “Where the magic happens,” sure. But much more importantly: where we spend ⅓ of our lives.

Yes, ⅓ OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES is spent in the bedroom!

The math is simple: 8 hours of sleep ÷ 24 hours in a day = ⅓ of each and everyday in the bedroom

Now if you’re thinking “8 hours!? HA, I’m lucky if I get 5 or 6.” Well my friend, I understand how kids and work and stress and [insert whatever it is that’s causing you to not get enough sleep here] work BUT it’s time you start moving sleep back up on your list of priorities.

There’s no doubt about the fact that quality sleep is essential for a healthy body.

Sleep isn’t just a time of not just rest, but also of repair.

Overnight, your body works to repair muscles, organs, and cells, and it releases chemicals that strengthen your immune system as well as growth hormones. Your digestive system gets a much-needed break and your liver is most active, carrying out the majority of its detox duties.

And when we don’t get enough sleep it impacts our hormones, raising insulin and cortisol levels. This is why a chronic lack of sleep has been found to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (source), obesity (source), inflammation (source and source), and heart disease (source).

But a healthy (read: non-toxic) bedroom is just as important as a goodnight’s sleep!

No, this isn’t discussed nearly as often as sleep itself. And that really ought to change.

Because according to the US EPA, indoor air can be up to 6 times more polluted than outdoor air. The agency has also stated:

Indoor air pollution is among the top five environmental health risks.

Where is this air pollution coming from? And does it impact our health?

Mostly from our home furnishings and building materials, and OH ABSOLUTELY YES.

When it comes to detoxing any room in the home, it’s really just a matter of 2 steps.

1. Reducing the amount of unhealthy pollutants being added to the room.
2. Cleaning things up!

So let’s take a closer look at how to do just this in the bedroom.

---

6 Essentials for a Healthy Bedroom

Snake plant a.k.a. Mother-in-law’s tongue a.k.a. The bedroom plant

Some plants not only produce oxygen but also filter toxic chemicals from the air. In fact NASA (yes, that NASA – the one that employs brainiacs and makes spaceships) found that these plants best improve indoor air quality by removing chemicals.

Snake plant or “Mother-in-law’s tongue” made the short list. It’s is a must for the bedroom in particular and has even been dubbed “the bedroom plant” since it’s great at removing nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde, and very efficiently converts carbon dioxide to oxygen at night.

---

A non-toxic, organic mattress

This is an investment I wish I would have made years ago. Because unfortunately, most mattresses are still made with toxic chemicals, some of which can off-gas for up to 20 years, polluting our homes and bodies

Since the ’60s, most mattresses have been made of polyurethane foam, a petroleum-based material that emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation. Since polyurethane foam is a highly flammable petroleum-based material, it must be treated or wrapped with fire retardant chemicals, many of which have been linked to infertility, birth defects, neurodevelopmental delays, reduced IQ scores and behavioral problems in children, hormone disruption, various forms of cancer, and more. Formaldehyde is also commonly used in the manufacturing of mattresses, and has been linked to asthma, allergies, and cancer.

I literally *fantasized* about getting a non-toxic mattress FOR YEARS. And now we’ve been sleeping on our new Naturepedic mattress for about a month now and couldn’t be happier! I’m surprised to say that I have far fewer restless nights (I’m a super light sleeper). And more than anything, I’m so happy to know that our mattress isn’t off-gassing any unhealthy chemicals.

• No flame retardants or flame retardant barriers
• No polyurethane foam
• No soy or bio-based foam (polyurethane foam with soybean oil mixed in)
• No synthetic latex rubber
• No harmful glues or adhesives
• No GMO cotton or other GMO fibers

My husband and I were also able to choose different firmness levels on each of our sides of the bed which has been AMAZING – I prefer more soft and he more firm, and we didn’t need to compromise!

The assembly process was a little different given that, well, assembly is required. But it is SO incredibly easy – I was able to do it all myself. It arrived in 3 different boxes and 5 different pieces: a quilted organic cotton casing, 2 bottom support layers, and 2 top comfort layers. And no, you can’t feel the divide between the two different sides, which was our biggest initial concern too.

Let’s be real and talk money for a moment. A queen-sized Naturepedic EOS is $3,000. Now I know: this is quite a big investment. But this comes out to just $150 a year if you divide it by 20 – Naturepedic has a 20-year warranty. $150 a year to sleep on the healthiest mattress possible. This is SO worth it to me… and probably far less than the average person probably spends on Starbucks each year!

AND great news for anyone ready to make the investment: Body Unburdened readers (hey, you!) can save 10% on adults mattresses (Chorus, Serenade, EOS Classic, EOS Pillowtop, and EOS Trilux) with coupon code BodyUnburdened10 (cannot be used with other offers, discounts or promo codes, cannot be applied to past purchases, and valid one time per customer!).

---

Organic cotton bedding

Many pillows, sheets, and blankets are also treated with flame retardant chemicals. Plus, conventional cotton is produced with an absolute ton of pesticides and is a major source of agricultural pollution. According to the Rodale Institute:

Cotton is considered the world’s dirtiest crop due to its heavy use of pesticides.

So for me personally, I look to buy organic cotton products as much as I can for the environmental as well as personal benefits.

And I’m SO happy that certified organic cotton sheets are becoming more and more widely available. I’ve tried a number of different brands in the past – Target’s Threshold, Pottery Barn, West Elm – and am currently sleeping on Naturepedic’s sheets and love them. So incredibly soft and luxurious (400 thread count!).

We also have Naturepedic pillows and a Naturepedic organic cotton mattress protector to keep our EOS nice and fresh!

---

A quality air purifier

Try as hard as we may, it’s virtually impossible to remove all sources of indoor air pollution. Or for financial or practical reasons, we may be unable to do so (for example: you just bought a house that has new carpeting and it is off-gassing chemicals, but you can’t exactly afford to run out and get all new flooring with that new mortgage payment right around the corner!). So it’s important to filter pollutants from the air.

There are two options for purifying indoor air: electric air purifiers and air-purifying plants.

An air purifier is a great idea for any healthy home, but it’s an especially wise investment for those that may have mold, are near a major road or highway, are in the city, or have any lingering scents you’d really like to get rid of! They can also be extremely helpful for asthma and allergy sufferers.

There are really a ton of air filtration options ranging from under $100 to over $500. Besides filtration quality, they differ in noise produced, energy used, and space capacity – some are designed for smaller rooms while others can filter very large spaces.

---

A pink Himalayan salt lamp

These little lamps have become quite trendy in recent years, but for good reason: they produce negative ions.

Numerous studies show that negative ions boost mood, relieve seasonal affective disorder, and boost the immune system. Though these studies were done using large, expensive negative ion producers, a simple pink Himalayan salt lamp is practical and affordable for everyday use.

So how do they work? The salt lamps attract moisture from the air to the lamp surface, where it then evaporates quickly. This evaporation produces negative ions.

---

Regular vacuuming and dusting

I can hear the groaning all the way across the interwebs!

It’s easy to procrastinate on household chores (unless there’s company coming over and we really MUST get on it). But here’s some major motivation to get the vacuum and dustbuster out more frequently…

A 2016 study led by researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health found that typical house dust contains 45 toxic chemicals. 90% of the dust samples contained 10 extremely harmful chemicals, including:

• TDCIPP: a cancer-causing agent that is frequently found in furniture, baby products (insane!), and other household items
• PHTHALATES: a group of chemicals that have been shown to cause reproductive and developmental toxicity as well as hormone disruption
• PHENOLS: can cause reproductive system toxicity and hormone disruption
• FLAME RETARDANTS: known to cause reproductive and nervous system toxicity as well as hormone disruption
• FLUORIDATED CHEMICALS: can cause reproductive system, liver, digestive, nervous system, and developmental toxicity

---

What do you say? Ready to detox your bedroom!?

I’m here to help! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and let’s chat.