One of the biggest complaints by owners of memory foam pillows and mattresses is the unpleasant, and potentially unhealthy chemical smell. Memory foam is manufactured using polyurethane and several other chemicals, so it isn’t surprising that it emits a chemical odor. This “off gassing” of volatile organic compounds is a common and well-documented property of memory foam pillows and mattresses. The fumes are often compared to those experienced in a freshly painted room. If you are experiencing this odor, the good news is you may not have to endure the smell for long. The bad news is that some of the chemicals used in memory foam aren’t entirely benign.Many memory foam mattress owners report that the off gassing period ends after a number of days.(1) Of course there are many factors which influence this including the product, the type of foam, the sensitivity of the person, the room ventilation and more. Even if the initial odor goes away, it is natural to wonder if there are health issues related to off gassing.
Most people do not report any health issues resulting from their memory foam pillow or mattress. However, there are various reports of headaches, nausea, and allergic reactions resulting from the odor produced by memory foam. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you’ll want to avoid sleeping on the foam during the initial off gassing period. You can leave the pillow or mattress in a well-ventilated area for a week or two and see if that helps eliminate or reduce the odor and symptoms. If after several weeks, the issue persists, it is probably time to consider an alternative to memory foam.Many many people use memory foam products without reporting any side effects or related health issues. That said, there are various reports and studies which indicate that memory foam may be somewhat toxic. Reports include carcinogenic chemicals and formaldehyde gas. To manufacture memory foam, chemicals are added to polyurethane to make it more dense and viscous at the same time. Additional chemicals are required to make the polyurethane flame retardant.
One of these, Pentabde (of the polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) family), was used until 2004. Pentabde is now known to be toxic to the liver, thyroid, and nervous system.(2) A study in 2000 specifically found mattress emissions to be toxic to the lungs of labratory mice.The long-term effects of memory foam and its toxicity is not fully understood, but there clearly is some reason for concern. Aproximately one-third of your life is spent in close contact to your sleeping surface, so it is important to consider you and your family’s health when selecting a pillow or mattress.Are you interested in the support and comfort provided by memory foam, but want to avoid that chemical smell? There are several natural pillow options for those looking for a new pillow. Of course, our favorite is our buckwheat hull pillow. Besides being natural and chemical-free, buckwheat pillows are a great alternative to memory foam for a couple of other reasons.Memory foam is not breathable and this can result in a hot and sweaty pillow.
The shape and particulate nature of buckwhat hulls leaves a lot of air space in your pillow between all of the hulls. This airspace allows warm moist air to escape, leaving your pillow cool and dry.While a memory foam pillow conforms to the shape of your head, the overall shape and thickness of the pillow is fixed, making the pillow less adaptable to your sleeping position. The fill in a stuffed pillow can be shifted and adjusted for a wider variety of shapes and sizes.If you’ve decided against a memory foam pillow and a buckwheat pillow isn’t right for you, other natural alternatives to memory foam include pillows filled with down, cotton, wool, latex, kapok or millet hulls. Major Update: Check out our updated Tuft & Needle mattress review here. T&N has made some major changes since I originally published this piece. For Sleepopolis regular readers you may already know that Tuft & Needle hasn’t always been one of my favorite mattresses. A little over 6 months ago I was in the market for a new mattress and a co-worker of mine recommended I give the Tuft & Needle a try, which I did.
All things considered, it was a good mattress and a great company, but after just a few nights it was apparent that it wasn’t the right mattress for me. The mattress at the time was quite simply too firm for my back. However, Tuft & Needle has been on the warpath these last 6 months and their mattress and foam formulation has gotten a complete overhaul. Tuft & Needle listened to their consumer feedback and went back to the drawing board. Within the last 6 months the team at Tuft & Needle has made more than a dozen major changes to the mattress addressing consumer feedback, complaints, and other issues.A completely new and dramatically improved mattress. ’s most popular rated mattress. So with that said, let’s dive in and take a look at the major changes to Tuft & Needle. The biggest complaint, by far, that Tuft & Needle has received within the last several months has been around the firmness. As I mentioned above, the mattress was just a bit too firm for me when I originally tried it.
Tuft & Needle took this feedback from their customers and began to go back to the drawing board of their foam formulation. The new foam delivered the same great support that so many have raved about on Amazon, but with considerable improvement to the softness. The new Tuft & Needle has a much softer feel and is closer to a true neutral firmness. This one isn’t as much of a change, but it’s so critically important, and it’s something I wasn’t aware of 6 months ago. Unlike most mattress companies Tuft & Needle doesn’t use latex foam, Avena foam, memory foam, or any other patented foam. Because they simply don’t have as much control over the support and comfort of those foams. Tuft & Needle’s foundation isn’t in design or marketing, and they don’t have an army of venture capitalists backing them. At the core they are engineers trying to solve the problems that plague the mattress industry, all from an engineer’s angle. And what do engineers want most? Formulaic control of their product, data driven feedback from their customers, and an experience that simply works.
Since they make their own foam they have incredible control over every aspect of the feel. By changing certain variables in the formulation and/or pouring process they are able to dial in support, comfort, firmness, cooling, sinkage, and virtually every other criteria you could imagine. Hybrid foam mattresses are fairly standard in the online factory direct mattress market. In fact, Tuft & Needle itself was something of a 3-layer hybrid mattress when they first launched. Their newest model has gone from 3-layers down to 2. Instead of having two separate layers, one for support and one for comfort, they have developed a foam formulation that combines these into a single 3 inch layer. In addition to simply being softer, the new Tuft & Needle foam formulation has been designed to promote additional cooling. The foams draw heat away from your body as you sleep and expel the heat through the sides and bottom, resulting in a mattress that sleeps cool immediately and constantly, even after laying down all night.