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It's that time of the year again: Time for Dorm Room Shopping!
While there is still plenty of summer left, I can't help but think about my new sophomore year room and how I will decorate it. After weeks of fastidious deliberation, I have decided on a beach and ocean theme, electing to follow a white and blue color scheme with the placement of simple nautical accents throughout the room.
With the theme decided on, my online ordering frenzy is now in full swing. Whenever I see a UPS truck pulling up outside my house, my adrenaline starts pumping, and I race to the front door, eagerly greeting the workers like a child greeting the ice-cream man. Moments later, I am in pure bliss, tearing open the cardboard boxes and delighting in my new gifts. (Think of this as the happiness when opening Christmas presents... tenfold.)
However, this joy of opening newly arrived packages came to a halt one day last week. While tearing the packing tape off the box holding my three-inch-thick mattress pad (which is an essential, since college beds are so uncomfortable!), I had to stop and back away after I inhaled what smelled like a combination of plastic and chemicals.
Curious as to what exactly I was breathing in and when the smell would go away, I left the box on the front porch to air out and went inside to research the odor.
Hoping to find sources explaining that the smell is perfectly harmless and fleeting, I was shocked to find the contrary; many mattress pads, as well as mattresses and other pieces of furniture, are made with harmful, volatile chemicals that can have severe effects on human health when inhaled.
Such information changed the way I think about my bedding and furniture, and it was unsettling to find out I was most likely exposed to these chemicals my entire life.
In this blog post series, I will examine the chemicals in our mattresses and bedding and their adverse effects on human health. If more people are aware of the chemicals they are breathing in every night due to their mattress, I am confident that they will demand change. The organic food movement grew when people became mindful of the chemicals on and in their food, so I am sure that with enough education, attention, and press, an organic mattress movement is sure to follow suit.
Do you know what's in your mattress? If not, stay tuned.
Picture Credit: Lindsay Széchényi (via Flickr) and available for use under the CC license
