Often, the bedroom isn’t where people look when they want to make large, sustainable changes to their homes and lives. However, the bedroom is one of the best places to start or make lasting changes.
This is the place you will, ideally, spend about a third of your day. It’s where you wake up. Below are five products that can help you make your bedroom into an eco-friendly haven.
A Fair and Organic Mattress Upgrade
Upgrading to a mattress made of organic materials that have been fairly obtained and processed into a mattress is the best option for making a long-lasting bedroom upgrade. Once you’ve decided to choose an organic mattress for better sleep and better health, there are just a few things you should be on the lookout for.
First, you want to avoid memory foam. This substance is created from polyurethane. Not only is this substance known to off-gas for days to weeks, but it can also trap certain things that can degrade air quality during the day if exposed. Then, as the foam is heated by your body temperature at night, everything it has trapped is released.
Second, the main material used in an eco-friendly mattress should be cotton grown with organic and eco-friendly methods. No chemicals and minimal irrigation lead to less water loss in areas where water is scarce, to begin with, healthier fields and drinking water, and fairer pay for the farmers that live there. Cotton-based mattresses are much softer and likely to adapt to the ideal sleeping temperature, compared to synthetic alternatives.
Bedding to Match That New Mattress
The best eco-friendly bedding is also made of that same eco-friendly, organic cotton. This material is softer than conventionally grown cotton and allows your skin to breathe while you sleep. These sheets are also more absorbent than any synthetic alternative, and even some other eco-friendly, natural fibers.
For you, this means more comfort in hot and cold weather as well as less wear and tear on your new organic mattress. If you would still like to choose an alternative to cotton, linen is a great option if you don’t mind a firmer texture. Lyocell is another fabric alternative that uses spun plant fibers, including eucalyptus and bamboo. This fabric is used to produce fabrics with a jersey-like feel.
Multi-Purpose Natural Diffuser and Humidifier
Two things many people don’t think about when it comes to sleep are smell and humidity. Humidity that is too low or too high can have a drastic effect on the quality of sleep.
To correct low humidity, all you need to do is have some sort of shallow container that will allow a thin layer of water to evaporate naturally. This method only works in a small area, so it is ideal for a bedside table.
Alternatively, if you want to add a pleasant scent to that same area, a product like a natural stone humidifier, with a few drops of essential oil placed on the stone, can solve two issues at once. To take this a step further, the large seeds of the Australian banksia tree are a natural, sustainable resource that can be hollowed out and used as a humidifying diffuser as well.
A Self-Contained Set of Houseplants
The benefits a houseplant can bring to any room can never be understated. Seeing live, green plants can help you relax and get a more restful sleep. Further, many houseplants require a minimum of care and can thrive in low-light conditions. These are the best choices for a bedroom.
Air plants, for example, don’t even need to be in a pot. All you need to do is soak them in clean water every week or two, let them dry, and then set them around the room. If you prefer a more traditional plant, a self-watering pot can make them easier to care for and may help balance the humidity in your bedroom.
An Adaptive Bedroom Lamp That Mimics Natural Light
Light has a lot to do with how easily a person can fall asleep, how well they will sleep, and how easy it will be for them to wake up. Even if you have not been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, vitamin absorption deficiency, or any other light-related condition, a light-therapy lamp can improve your life.
Some light therapy lamps can do more than emit bright light to help you wake up and improve alertness. These lamps are programmable so that they can start to dim at certain times of day to help you fall asleep and cue your brain to produce melatonin.
When it’s time to wake up, they will slowly illuminate your room, stimulating your brain to full wakefulness even before you open your eyes. The more time you spend by this lamp, the more effective it may be, especially if the lamp was designed to output fewer than 10,000 lux
Comments are closed.