susan greenfield and her girlfriend Llina Kempner couldn't wait for their new memory-foam mattress top to arrive. For months, they'd heard friends rave about how the high-tech material molds itself to your body. But when they unwrapped the three-inch-thick pad in their Manhattan apartment, they noticed a strong, acrid odor. "My nose and my lungs were miserable," recalls Greenfield. For the two nights Kempner slept on the mattress top, she felt nauseated. After Greenfield, who is chemically sensitive, had an asthma attack in the middle of the night, the couple returned the mattress pad. But its stench lingered in the apartment for weeks.Reactions like Greenfield's are relatively rare, but you, too, might lose some sleep when you find out what's really inside your mattress—memory foam or not. The place where you spend one-third of your life is chock-full of synthetic materials, some potentially toxic. Since the mid- to late '60s, most mattresses have been made of polyurethane foam, a petroleum-based material that emits volatile organic compounds that can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation.
Formaldehyde, which is used to make one of the adhesives that hold mattresses together, has been linked to asthma, allergies, and lung, nose, and throat cancers. And then there are cotton pesticides and flame-retardant chemicals, which can cause cancer and nervous-system disorders. In 2005, Walter Bader, owner of the "green mattress" company Lifekind and author of the book Toxic Bedrooms, sent several mattresses to an Atlanta-based lab. A memory-foam model was found to emit 61 chemicals, including the carcinogens benzene and naphthalene. There is no proven health risk from the substances in mattresses, however, mostly because tracking their long-term effects is virtually impossible. Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University, says there's simply not enough data to determine whether low levels of these chemicals will eventually make people sick. "It's the dose that makes the poison," she says. "If they're not getting out, maybe it's not a problem—but we don't know.
There are plenty of lab studies that show that these compounds are harmful. It's just a question of what levels people are exposed to." Still, more and more consumers are seeking out mattresses made of natural latex, organic cotton batting, and organic wool. Sales of California-based Vivètique's latex mattresses have increased by 40 percent annually for the past five years—they now comprise 45 percent of the company's total sales. And they are even sold by discounter 1-800-Mattress. It's hard to say whether you should ditch your conventional bed in favor of a green one, since you'll likely have a tough time figuring out exactly which toxins are lurking under your covers. Take, for example, fireproofing chemicals: Pentabde, a member of the polybrominated diphenyl ether (pbde) family of flame retardants, was used in some mattresses before 2004, when it was phased out. (Pentabde is now known to be toxic to the liver, thyroid, and nervous system.) So let's say that just to be on the safe side you toss your pre-2004 mattress and buy a new one.
Last July, the Consumer Product Safety Commission began to require that all mattresses sold in the United States be able to withstand 30 minutes of exposure to an open flame. Mattress makers aren't using Pentabde anymore—but it's not clear exactly what they are using to meet the new standard. Major manufacturers such as Simmons, Sealy, and Tempur-Pedic won't divulge their flame-retardant formulas, which are considered trade secrets. A Simmons press release touts a "proprietary blend of char-forming, intumescing, flame-resistant components." Tempur-Pedic vaguely states that its products "consistently meet all safety standards." A best guess at what's in today's mattresses comes from Ryan Trainer, executive vice president of the International Sleep Products Association, an industry group. He says most companies use "various types of barrier fabrics" such as cotton treated with boric acid or rayon treated with silica—both relatively benign chemicals—as well as fire-resistant materials such as modacrylic fiber (which contains antimony oxide, a carcinogen) and melamine resin (which contains formaldehyde).
With a doctor's prescription, people who are chemically sensitive and have allergies can order a mattress that doesn't pass a flammability test. But organic-mattress companies have found a simple way to fireproof: wrapping their bedding in a layer of wool. Their prices aren't so warm and cozy—a queen-size latex model from Virginia-based Savvy Rest starts at $1,599. But if you're having nightmares about your mattress, and it's time to trade in your well-worn Posturepedic anyway, it might be worth it. Susan Greenfield was a fan of organic mattresses even before the smelly memory-foam pad showed up—she's slept on one for 15 years, says she "loves" it, and describes it as "very comfortable but very hard." Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.Recently a friend of mine asked me, “Do you know what is the best mattress for back pain?” She was having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep because of sciatica and some back problems. I figured the firmest mattress (hard mattress) was probably the best but I really didn't know for sure.
To answer her question, I decided to dig into the medical literature to see what was in there about the best mattress for backI went back about 10 years. There aren't a lot of studies on mattresses and back pain. But there's enough information there to make a And not only was I wrong about what I thought was the best mattress for back pain, but so are a heck of a lot of doctors who deal with back pain. mean better for back pain. In 2003, a study from Spain of 313 adults with chronic low back pain examined the effect of mattresses on their levels of pain while lying in bed...and when getting out of bed. Some of these people got new firm mattresses to sleep on for 90 days and some got new medium-firm mattresses. participants knew which type of mattress they had received. After 90 days, a higher percentage of patients sleeping on the medium-firm mattresses reported: The study states: A mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back
A medium-firm mattress provides good support while distributing pressure points on the body when lying in bed. mattress that is too soft is just as bad for low back pain as a mattress that is too firm. In a 2005 study, The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association pointed out that in a survey, 76% of orthopedic surgeonsAnd most health professionals recommend hard or extra firm mattresses. The problem again is that these types of mattresses decrease the ability of the body to have more contact with the mattress. more pressure on the parts of the body that do touch the mattress. in turn means more pain in bed and getting out of bed. It's a known fact that low back pain significantly affects sleepA study in 2006 (Journal of Chiropractic Medicine) also looked at sleep quality in relation to medium-firm mattresses. The study of 30 women and 29 men showed this: For 28 days, subjects slept in their owns beds. Then they slept in beds with new
medium-firm mattresses for 28 days. With this new bedding, there was significant improvement for back pain and stiffness, comfort, and sleep quality. Is it starting to become clear here what the best mattress for back pain is? A 2008 study in Applied Ergonomics showed that age of and quality of bedding had a major effect on back pain. People sleeping in new beds had significantly less pain and more comfort than when they were sleeping on their older mattresses. The average age of the beds people were sleeping on before getting the new mattresses was 9.5 years. In addition, the study states: It was found that for the cheapest category of beds, lower back pain was significantly more prominent than for the medium and higher priced beds. So let's wrap up this article on the best mattress for back pain with two final studies I uncovered. Below, we'll also take a look at three top choices for where to get the mattress of your dreams.
The first study was in Spine. One hundred and sixty people were divided into three groups for a one month test of new mattresses. in group one were given water beds...group two memory foam mattresses...and group three hard mattresses. People who slept on the water beds and memory foam mattresses had improved back pain symptoms, back function, and sleep quality. mattress types were deemed superior to a hard mattress. were no differences observed between the water bed and the memory foam. Now I don't know about you, but I've slept in a few water beds over the years but never really liked them. I always felt like I was sleeping in a row boat. A 2010 study showed that replacing patients' beds with new medium-firm mattresses, layered with memory foam and latex, provided significant improvement in both back and shoulder pain. Check out this chart below and you'll see what the best mattress for back pain is. As you can see, there is over a 60% drop in back pain and stiffness, resulting in improvement in sleep quality after just one week!
And these results continue through week 12. Researchers also mentioned there was a significant drop in the number of days per week that people were experiencing poor sleep and Obviously, then, if your back gives you fits, the best mattress for back pain is one that has memory foam in it. (Or if you love your water bed, by all means stick with it.) The question then is... Searching around to find a quality mattress is like getting your teeth drilled at the dentist without novocaine. Yes, it's that painful! So I'm going to save you all that trouble. I've searched for hours all over the Internet to bring you three excellent choices of mattress companies. sells America's luxury mattresses for a steep discount. Their prices are unbeatable. And if you don't live in the United States, no problem. Saatva ships their discounted luxury mattresses where you live. After you pick out the items you want on Saatva's website, select International Checkout as your shipping option.
They are experts at shipping anywhere in the world. You can read two Saatva customer reviews from Saatva customers in the right column of this page up above. This may be the best mattress company on the Internet. Click here to go to the Saatva home page. is recommended and was featured on Dr. Oz's TV show and AndersonThey claim to have the world's only truly natural memory foamI must say, these are incredibly pure memory foam mattresses. However, they are expensive. So unless you have a lot of money, I think you can get a much better deal with the third choice below.There’s a new memory foam mattress Loom & Leaf has flipped the world of buying memory foam Now you can get a luxury queen from Loom & Leaf for onlyA similar mattress at Tempur-Pedic would cost you $3,699. Which price would you rather pay? Loom & Leaf mattresses are built in America with American high-grade, non-toxic memory foam. Certified pure by Certi-PUR. They also use a unique medical grade cooling gel.