Sleep is a required need to sustain life, and quality sleep is critical to vital and abundant health. As a doctor of chiropractic, I can tell you that one of the most overlooked relationships in acquiring quality sleep is the role that th
e mattress plays. Most patients that come to see me have little understanding of what qualifies as a good sleeping surface, and even more concerning, they are unaware of the materials that are used in making those surfaces. Concerning, but not surprising. The mattress industry is not forthcoming as to the materials used in the production of mattresses today. And shockingly, the evolution of the modern mattress has moved in a direction that is less supportive of our physical structural needs and towards the use of more synthetic materials, which on a physiological level, can unknowingly expose the sleeper to potentially harmful toxicities.
Sleeping disorders in the U.S. are growing at an alarming rate, and have been labeled as epidemic. But little has been done to look at the correlation between such disorders and the root cause of the dysfunction.
The Evolution of the Modern Mattress
In the first half of the 20th century, mattresses were primarily made using steel springs for support and cotton batting for cushioning. Polyurethane foam was created in Germany in 1937 and began to replace cotton in the 1950’s. Polyurethane was much less expensive than cotton, even in that time, thus the trend to use such materials was embraced.
Polyurethane foam is made from petroleum-based products, which is known to emit volatile organic compounds, and exposure to such has been linked to respiratory irritation and other health problems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the past 30 years, the cotton used in mattress production has been completely replaced by the synthetic foams, as well as some of the springs. The first incarnation of synthetic foams was found in the pillow-top mattress, which fell out of favor because the foams often degraded, losing formation and becoming known for quickly forming body impressions.
The current state of mattress evolution uses combinations of synthetic foams (polyurethane, memory, latex, foamed gel) to create comfort and support alternatives. But as these new materials have grown in popularity, sleep problems have also increased. Most U.S. consumers do not know that the manufacturers of today’ mattresses all originate from the same material pool, which is primarily composed of synthetic, petrochemical-based foams.
In 2007 the U.S. Federal Government mandated that every mattress manufacturer include a fire barrier in the mattress so that it would self-extinguish if caught on fire. However, it did not mandate what type of materials should be used to accomplish the self-extinguishing, or require disclosure of said ingredients used to the consumer. The least expensive flame-retardants used by major retail mattress companies are liquid sprays containing chemicals such as PCDE’s (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) and Boric Acid, both known to have carcinogen properties.
Furthermore, in the last decade the mattress industry has moved towards a softer mattress, providing less structural support to the sleeper, which results in the increased incidence of tossing and turning and robbing the sleeper of time in the needed deep levels of non-REM III and IV.
Stay tuned for Part II, or visit http://www.intellibed.com/research/ to read the complete article!
For Your Health,
Dr. Brandon Chorney