Natural Latex Matteresses

With a new husband and a new home drifting closer on the horizon, I figured it was high time for a new mattress. Only problem: Which one?

Wandering through the world of mattresses is like navigating through troubled water. Everywhere you dock, you hear another cautionary tale. Cheap mattresses sag. Spring mattresses are lumpy. Memory foam mattresses are hot. But the most worrisome of all: a large number of all types of mattresses contain harmful chemicals.

You’ve probably smelled them. I know I have. The last mattress I got, a Tempurpedic, reeked for weeks. Luckily, it was summer. So we opened the windows and let the smell float to the heavens not thinking much of it.

Turns out, we should have. The fumes were toxic VOCs, which by now you’ve probably heard all about. VOCs (volatile organic compounds) cause a number of harmful health problems including cancer. So they’re not particularly something you want to sleep on.

Yet every night we lay ourselves down on dozens of them. One study found a single memory foam mattress contained over 61 toxic chemicals.

Granted, just because a mattress contains toxic chemicals doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily harm us. There’s yet to be a study that links the toxic chemicals in mattresses to ill health effects. But at the same time, no studies have been done. And considering we spend a third of our life on our mattresses, many people are worried we have a sleeper syndrome in the making, silently causing a number of health issues.

Sound like a bad nightmare? I agree. In fact, I was so worried, I limited my mattress search to only those that were chemical free and made of all natural materials: latex, organic wool and organic cotton.

But one key question plagued me. Are they comfortable?

I’d slept on my fair share of bad mattresses while traveling. Some so bad I resorted to sleeping on the floor. And yes, it was more comfortable. So when I got my Tempurpedic I felt as if I was in Heaven. Sleeping on it was like sleeping on a sublime cloud.

But sleeping on toxic chemicals? Not so sublime.

Fortunately, many of the chemical-free companies swear natural latex mattresses offer the same — if not better — comfort as memory foam. And you don’t have to take their word for it. Most offer a 90-day, money-back guarantee, giving your inner princess and the pea adequate time to test them out.

So why isn’t everyone switching to a chemical-free mattress? The cost. Natural latex mattresses tend to be a bit more pricey. But considering I’ve been blessed with more health issues than fingers and toes, I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry and ordered a latex mattress from FloBeds. I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in trying out a natural mattress of your own, here are some companies to consider:

• Diamond Mattress

• Flo Beds

• Green Sleep

• My Essentia*

• Plush Beds

• Pure Rest

• Rocky Mountain Mattress

• Royal Pedic

• Savvy Rest

*My Essentia is the only company on the list that doesn’t offer a natural latex mattress. Instead, they’re the creators of the only natural memory foam mattress on the market.