Best Non-Toxic Mattress

A non-toxic mattress is one of the most important items to incorporate when eliminating toxins from your home environment. There are a vast range of mattresses on the market, making it difficult to find the best option. Read below to learn what it means to have a non toxic mattress, why it is important, and the three types of non toxic mattresses. 

What is a non toxic mattress, and how does it differ from a mainstream mattress? From the synthetic foam interior to the flame retardant coating, conventional mattresses are polluted with polyurethane foams, formaldehyde, toluene, benzene, styrene, etc at every step during the manufacturing process. A non toxic mattress is free from chemicals associated with negative effects on health. It is made with natural components to ensure a healthy night sleep. Choosing a non-toxic mattress is a key part of avoiding toxins in your environment.

 The foam interior of a mattress is often concocted from petrochemicals that are trapped in small air bubbles residing in the foam. Miniscule particles of these chemicals break off and release into the surrounding air for the entire lifespan of the mattress. This means that every hour you are asleep, you are inhaling these particles as you are in close proximity. For this reason, it is important to avoid any conventionally made foam when searching for a non toxic mattress. Soy, and other natural sounding foams, can still be quite toxic. If they are truly non toxic, reports from eco institute, greenguard gold, or another regulating body will be available to show they do not off gas harmful chemicals.  Natural latex foams are non-toxic as long as they are 100% natural latex without any synthetic latex added. 

A second and perhaps even more harmful component found in conventional mattresses are flame retardants. In the United States, all mattresses are required to pass certain flame retardant requirements by law, showing that they are not overly flammable.   Conventional companies address this by applying chemical flame retardants to make the mattresses less flammable. Common chemical flame retardants such as Polybrominated dipheyl ethers (PBDEs) and Tetrabromibisphenol A (TBBPA)  are shown to have negative consequences to health, such as fertility issues, cancer, and neurological problems. Truly non toxic mattresses meet flame retardant requirements by instead using any variety of natural flame retardants, such as organic wool, natural wool, hydrated silica, PLA, or boric acid.

Three types of mattresses that don’t contain toxic chemicals are a non-toxic mattress, a natural mattress, and an organic mattress.

Non toxic mattress

If you are simply looking for a non-toxic mattress, look for one that contains non toxic foams and does not use standard flame retardants.  Sometimes you have to dive pretty deep to get an answer about the flame retardants since flame retardant application is not required to be disclosed on a law label tag. If you want to take it a step further than merely non-toxic, the next type of mattress would be considered a “natural mattress”.

Natural Mattress

A natural mattress is a mattress that uses natural materials instead of synthetic materials.  Examples of natural materials that can be found in a mattress are coils (made of metal), natural latex foam (from a rubber tree), coconut fiber (coir), horsehair, natural wool, and natural cotton.  A natural mattress does not include chemical flame retardants, but instead, a natural option, such as boric acid or wool.  You should be able to recognize the ingredients in the mattress and feel confident that they came from the earth.  In your search for the best non toxic mattress, the next step up would be an organic mattress.

Organic Mattress

A step up from a natural mattress, an organic mattress is both non-toxic as well as natural.  However, to offer you one more step of confidence, all the materials used to make the mattress are certified organic.  Almost all organic mattresses use organic cotton for an outer layer.  Under the organic cotton, many use a layer of organic wool as a flame retardant.  The inside of an organic mattress can be organic latex foam, organic wool batting, coconut fiber, and/or coil units.  

Some of our favorite best non toxic mattresses?

If you are looking for budget conscious options, we like the TFS Cozy Nest mattress and the Harvest Green mattresses. Both of these are some of the best priced organic mattresses.

Are you looking for an upscale model?  A natural latex mattress is one of the best options that will offer the most comfort and last the longest.  Bella Sera Organic mattresses are a customer favorite along with the Suite Sleep Portfolio or the very high end Green Sleep Dolcezza.

Are you an absolute purist?  We would recommend Royal Pedic as there is nothing but organic cotton, wool and coils. Made in Beverly Hills, this mattress is quite firm, and the best organic mattress money can buy.