Organic Living - Creating your Green Bedroom

Trying to live a healthy and environmentally friendly life can be pretty tiring. There are so many little details in life to keep track of, so making sure that you are doing the 'green' thing requires an awful lot of attention to detail. Sometimes you have to prioritise the most important things in life. The bedroom is definitely 'up there' when it comes to day-to-day importance.

The average night's sleep is 7 to 8 hours, which will be the minimum amount of time we spend in the bedroom every day. If you take into account that many people use their bedroom as an office or space to relax during the day, we can end up spending over a third of the day in just that one room. A third of a day may not sound too much, but when you think of it as a third of your entire life, it makes you realise just how much time you spend in the bedroom.

Going green in the bedroom is, in a lot of ways, similar to the rest of the home. There are certain techniques, gadgets and purchases which work all over the house. However, mattresses and bedding are something which you are exposed to for the whole time you are asleep; this amount of exposure makes it essential that you have a chemical free sleeping environment and, with that, peace of mind. We've made a short list of what we think are the biggest changes you can make for a green, chemical free bedroom:

Low VOC Paint

Paint seems to have always had health issues surrounding it. We may not have to deal with the toxicity of lead paint anymore (it is now legally prohibited in any home paint products in the UK or U.S) but, unfortunately there is a new hazard in that paint industry in the form of VOCs. VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds are used to make most household paint and emit hazardous gasses, even after the paint has dried. Although VOC has the word 'Organic' in it, it is definitely the word 'Volatile' to which you should pay more attention.

Living a green lifestyle revolves around thinking about long term effects, rather than simply viewing everything in the short term. VOC paint is something which can cause illness through long term exposure, so you might not necessarily realise the harmful nature of the paint when it is first applied. These chemical compounds have been linked to cancer, kidney damage, liver damage and many other conditions.

To avoid these long term hazards, there are many alternatives to conventional high-VOC paint. You can actually get paint which is made using milk, eggs, flour and natural dye; this might seem a little too bizarre, but the paint seems to get constantly good reviews. The most popular option is a reduced VOC paint, which has chemical levels which are viewed as 'manageable' for the human body.

Organic Mattresses

The modern organic lifestyle is nothing like the 'hippy' lifestyle which some people might picture. Organic mattresses aren't just glorified straw sacks; they are luxury mattresses, which are made for comfort as well as health. Organic mattresses are one of the most overwhelmingly 'green' choices when it comes to creating a healthy sleeping environment. If a mattresses is certified by organic by either the Soil Association or the Global Organic Textile Standard, you can be sure that it contains none of the potentially harmful chemicals of its non-organic brother.

The most common type of organic mattress is probably a natural latex mattress. Natural latex is the pure sap from the rubber tree, frothed up into a latex foam, and expertly baked into what will become an organic mattress. It is generally viewed as the alternative to petroleum memory foam and synthetic latex; it is important to note that natural latex and synthetic latex are nearly entirely different. Memory foam has steadily become one of the most popular mattress types over the last 20 years, with most mattress stores displaying just as many memory foam mattresses as conventional pocket sprung mattresses.

Natural latex provides a similar level of supportive luxury, without any of synthetic chemicals used in memory foam or synthetic latex. Another area in which an organic mattress will limit exposure to chemical ingredients is the fire safety treatment. Many people have to submit themselves to the idea that chemical fire treatment is an unavoidable necessity, even for a natural or organic mattress. Organic mattresses absolutely do not need to be sprayed with chemical fire retardants in order to pass official fire safety regulations! Organic wool is a natural fire retardant which passes all official fire regulations, removing the need for a single synthetic chemical to be used in the manufacturing process.

Organic Cotton Bedding

Organic cotton is growing increasingly popular in the clothing market, especially with more small retailers able to sell their organic cotton clothing online. The benefits of of organic cotton are not only health benefit, but environmental also. The Soil Association and Global Organic Textile Standard are championing an initiative called 'cotton on' which is aimed at increasing the visibility of the organic cotton industry, as well as helping organic cotton farmers. With the organic cotton industry in such healthy fetter, it stands to reason that cotton bedding, which you are exposed to every night, should be the next logical thing to 'go organic'.

Organic cotton is entirely free of the pesticides which are used on ordinary cotton. 25% of all chemical pesticides are used on cotton, so it's quite a significant problem to avoid. Organic cotton also requires as much as half the water of chemically fertilised cotton, the growth of which is often chemically accelerated.

4 Living are one of the UK's only retailers of high quality organic certified mattresses and organic bedding for a green bedroom. They offer a number of different natural mattresses, providing a healthy alternative to memory foam ad synthetic latex. A selection are available to try in their East Sussex Mattress Showroom.