I’m always trying to clean up my act, but of utmost priority was getting rid of the mold I found growing underneath pad we were using to sleep on. I love floor sleeping for both the firmness of the surface and for the way I have to use my body to get down and back up again. But, I also can’t have mold growing underneath our beds. So, we decided to build futon platforms based on this futon platform available from Big Apple Futon. (Before you ask, no, I don’t have plans. We just winged it.) Because we’re also trying to create a less toxic home, I decided to skip the polyurethane and make my own sealant out of olive oil and beeswax. I have a friend who is deathly afraid that I will turn crafty and turn KatySays into a crafty blog. I’ve sworn to my friend that I haven’t and I won’t. But still, I had a lot of fun chopping this block of beeswax into small pieces, and adding it to heated oil (for one bed I used sunflower oil and the other olive to make them slightly different colors).
Since I find the small movements necessary for crafts tedious, my favorite part was getting the wax onto the wood. The application process was one of the most challenging movement sessions I’ve had in a long time. Think four hours of different squats and arm-reaches, outside in the sun, kids running about the place. In the comment section of a post I wrote about transitioning to sleeping without a mattress, someone had written something about the off-gassing of the pad I was using. I googled “flame retardants mattresses” and HOLY CRAP. I had no idea about the research on flame-retardants and that they’re found in children and in breast-milk, and are pretty much bad news. (Unless you’re on fire, then I imaging they sound pretty great.) This is just another reason I’m glad our home is furniture (meaning couch and tv-watching chair) free. Furniture is lousy with flame retardants. If you were looking for a reason to go furniture-free, read Flame Retardants Linked to Lower IQs, Hyperactivity in Children.
I know, I’m just a flame-retardant free freak. So new objective: find a new mattress that was both thin and firm, as well as chemical-free. We found cotton and wool futon pads from White Lotus Home and now we have these pads up on our futon platforms.Well I definitely preferred sleeping on something really thin and actually on the floor, but I feel like I made a good tradeoff for less chemical and mold exposure. You could easily sleep on one of these mattresses directly on the floor, but you would need to be diligent about getting it up off the floor every day for airflow. If it was just me, and not a family of four, I imagine I’d be sleeping on the floor and rolling it up each day. Around this time, the huz and I were trying to figure out how to get to bed earlier and stop us from working late (or mindlessly surfing the net). We decided to put our wireless router on a timer that clicked it off at a pre-set time every night. I didn’t realize he had already done this when, after a few days of crazy dreams, I mentioned them.
And he agreed that he to had very dynamic bouts of dreaming. Then he mentioned that he had put the timer up a few days beforehand. There haven’t been m(any?) studies on sleeping in a “constant WiFi” environment and dream qualities, although there have been studies on sleep position and geomagnetic activity and how they affect dreams. To be honest, I’d never even considered that my WiFi could be affecting my sleep until I did a literature search as saw that it indeed does (you’ll find links to some articles at the end of this post). It’s been two months since we went Wi-Fi free at night and while I haven’t bothered to quantify/qualify my dreams further than what I did the first week, I can say that I am sleeping much more heavily through the night. That is, I used to awaken easily and early—now, when my alarm goes off at 5:30am (my magical walking time)—I’m still sleeping heavily. Sleep quality aside, putting a timer on electronics decreases screen time, saves energy, consumes less fuel and saves money.
There’s nothing to lose and many things to gain. And so, happy ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZs!I also made these pseudo-“nutellas” for a baby shower but I swear I’m not into crafts and this will never be a craft-blog. I’m listing just some of the Sleep/EMF research links and paper titles here; () to read more. Also, pay attention to the doses used in many of these studies (e.g. 30 minutes before bed). What’s your exposure to WiFi look like in minutes per day? I’ve just uploaded a new #AboutThatLife vlog where I give you a first look room tour of my son’s bedroom but here on my blog, I want to provide you with more information about his bed and why we’ve chosen this type of bedding. We recently moved into our new home and our first goal here is to set up Manny’s room in a simplistic, minimal natural theme that’s efficient and comfortable for his everyday life. Along with this we want him to be in a space that is non-toxic to his health. As many of you already know, Manny is already dealing with so much and as parents we want to reduce and avoid any added toxicity to his life as much as we can.
So, of course we were on the search for the best of the best when shopping for his bed and mattress. Thankfully as I was scrolling through Instagram I came across SAVVY REST. You should first know that toxic chemicals in the home including those in mattresses, bedding, sofas and other furniture are dangerous to health. Most mattresses carry chemical flame retardants which have been linked to cancer, obesity, infertility and developmental brain disorders. Along with other unsafe chemicals in synthetic foams and textiles, and they off-gas into our indoor air, easily ingested by us and our children. Exposure to these compounds has resulted in unprecedented levels in our bodies, with children carrying the highest load. Nontoxic, natural latex foam mattresses and sofas without flame retardants offer a safer alternative and safer is all I want for my child. For Manny, we selected the Queen Serenity Mattress and the Esmont Bed in the color walnut. We chose a queen size because this is a long term bed.
He may be small now but in a few years he will be passed my height! His dad is 6″5 and he is growing quicker than his dad did at his age. This queen bed will support him throughout his growth and because it’s a simple, classic, and timeless, it will also evolve within his future style as he develops his own taste. I’m pretty sure this is a bed he’ll love and enjoy for years! Natural latex organic mattresses are made with layers of Soft, Medium or Firm latex foam rubber. The casings are made of pure organic cotton with organic wool batting quilted inside. NO chemical flame retardants, pesticides, bleaches, dyes or other toxic finishes. His room is set up in a minimalist style with only the things he needs, uses, and enjoys. We also avoid buying his super stimulating toys so most of his toys do not have flashing lights, technology based, or super modern. We believe the old fashion way of playing allows his brain to understand and experience a simpler way of using his imagination without the influence of technology affecting his creativity level.