Detox Your Bedroom for Safe and Healthy Sleep
Sleep radiantly.
Detoxing your bedroom is a process where you remove items your bedroom that are preventing the healthy night’s sleep you need and deserve. A healthy night’s sleep will boost your daily performance, enhance your mental acuity, improve your immunity and maintain your happiness and well-being.
Here are six ways you can detox your bedroom for better, longer-lasting sleep:
Make Greener Bedding Choices
From your mattress to your comforters and quilts, there are greener, less toxic options to bring into your bedroom. Many mattress and bedding options emit toxins into the air of your bedroom, which you breathe in through the night. Ideally, look for GOTS certified organic bedding, which is certified to be manufactured from at least 95% organic materials.
Also, fire retardants in some mattresses contain polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) that have been connected with damaged reproductive systems, behavioral changes, immune system impairments, skin irritation, thyroid and liver damage, diabetes, and nervous system problems.
You won’t find PBDEs or similar toxins in a natural latex mattress, made with organic and natural materials. This means you can rest assured, knowing you’re not introducing new toxins into the air you breathe while sleeping, and that you’ve eliminated one huge contributing factor for poor air quality in your bedroom.
Sleeping on bedding and mattress made of organic and natural materials can go a long way toward your goal of detoxing your bedroom.
Make sure organic bed sheets are part of your bedtime routine as well. Upgrading to organic cotton eliminates toxins from your bed. And if you are a candle lover, the importance of choosing non-toxic candles can’t be emphasized enough! Do you really want to breathe in fumes that are loaded with paraffin and other nasties?
Bring Plants Into Your Bedroom
Plants are excellent, natural tools for purifying the air inside your home. If your goal is to eliminate as many toxins from the air in your room as you can, the following plants make excellent choices:
- Snake plant
- Spider plant
- Bamboo palms
- Peace lilies
- Rubber trees
If you would like to freshen the air in your bedroom or add a little fragrance, the best all-natural and non-toxic solutions involve bringing fragrant plants into your bedroom such as:
- Lavender
- Jasmine
- Gardenias
- Rosemary
- Valerian
Keeping plants in your bedroom can help to detox the air, while providing a pleasant fragrance and enhancing your mood. These are all excellent choices, just remember that with fragrant plants, a little bit will do the trick. Too many fragrant plants can be overpowering in small spaces.
Remove “Visual Toxins” from Your Bedroom
While most people focus on things like clutter or feng shui, the truth is that electronics in the bedroom are every bit as toxic as other forms of visual clutter. Your bedroom should be for two dedicated purposes: intimacy and sleep. If the items in your room do not promote one or the other, you need to remove them.
This includes fitness machines, computers, televisions, Alexa, mobile phones and countless other items that serve to distract rather than relax you at night. Is your phone plugged in next to your bed? Does it buzz through the night telling you you’ve got a message? Start a new rule in your house today; no phones are allowed in any bedroom; this is especially important for kids and teenagers. Is your phone your alarm? Invest in a $20 alarm clock from Amazon or Target. You’ll be surprised how much better you (and your kids) sleep when you’re no longer “on deck” waiting for the next call or message to come through.
Why is it so important to remove electronics? The primary reason is simple. Electronics can keep you up at night and rob you of precious sleep. Think about how much time you spend on your mobile phone at night before going to sleep. Just checking your email one last time can quickly become a two-hour ordeal that prevents you from getting the restful sleep you need and deserve.
Also, studies reveal that our small electronic devices (cell phones, tablets or laptops) emit enough blue light to promote wakefulness, halt the production of Melatonin and alter the brain, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Switch to Natural Cleaning Products
Eliminate all synthetic cleaning products and switch to green cleaning products made with natural ingredients and no harmful chemicals. There are plenty of convenient products on the market today that offer healthy cleaning for your entire home, as well as many products that you can make on your own.
The benefit of making your own cleaning products is that you can use a few simple ingredients such as lemon juice, and clean, knowing exactly what you’re introducing into your bedroom. You can make a variety of highly-effective and natural cleaning products with things you have in your home already, such as:
- Baking soda
- Essential Oils
- Lemons
- Salt
- Vinegar
You can even turn to your spice cabinet for a variety of items that can freshen the air. That is, of course, if you aren’t already using the fresh flower and plant tip above, or if you want a little extra pop of fragrance.
Wash Your Sheets More Often
Besides our partners, some of the things we sleep and cuddle up with nightly are skin cells, pollen, perspiration, bacteria, and pet dander, if we allow our four-legged friends on the bed. Yes, these are all things we’re cuddling up with and inhaling, through the night.
So, it goes without saying that our sheets must be washed frequently. How often? The general recommendation is that you wash your sheets at least once per week. Don’t wait for your sheets to “look” dirty. Set a specific day of the week that you change your bed.
If you have problems sleeping or if you have allergies, consider increasing the frequency with which you change your sheets. This is also true if you or your partner has been ill, sweats excessively, or even if you prefer showering in the morning rather than before turning in at night
Use Non-Toxic, No or Low VOC Paint
Did you know that the wrong kind of paint can introduce unwanted and unwelcomed toxins into any room of your home? While you probably don’t want these toxins in any room in your home, it’s critical to remove them from your bedroom.
So how do you get rid of toxins that come from paints that contain VOC (volatile organic compounds)? Using non-toxic paints, such as no or low VOC paints.
Low VOC/no VOC paints are also water-based, which means it’s easier to clean these paints up in the event of a spill. It’s also easier to dispose of the paints that have no VOC’s since they aren’t considered dangerous waste with special disposal requirements. Low VOC or no VOC paints are also available in a wide variety of bedroom colors.
Each small step you take is one in the right direction. Low VOC paints are just one of the steps you can take to produce a greener, cleaner, and healthier bedroom.
There are plenty of simple steps you can take that will help detox your bedroom and clear the air you breathe while sleeping. But the real answer is not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know. Which of these steps do you plan on implementing tonight? These six tips are excellent places to begin, so you can get the healthy sleep your body deserves.
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