Bader - Sleep safe in a toxic world : your guide to a safe nights sleep

Advance Praise

Because children spend over half their time in bed, one of the most important gifts you can give them is a safe and healthy one. Bader provides credible evidence that will change how you view where your child sleeps, as well as answers for finding the safest options.

Janelle Sorensen, Chief Communications Officer,
Healthy Child Healthy World

Sleep Safe reminds us of the health risks we face every day from environmental toxins and shocks us with their proximity. The chemicals found in your mattress, as with so many consumer products, are being camouflaged in greenwashing. This book will open your eyes to better choices that will steer you towards a safer, healthier lifestyle.

David Steinman, author of Safe Trip to Eden, Diet for a Poisoned Planet and co-author of The Safe Shoppers Bible: A Consumers Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics, and Food

It was a profoundly disturbing revelation to learn about the extent of our chemical exposure during sleep as a result of outgassing from elements used in the manufacturing of mattresses and bedding. As many of us strive to make healthier, less toxic choices in our everyday lives it becomes common sense, after reading Walters book, that one of the most important places to start the transition is in our own bedroom, where we spend up to a third of our lives sleeping. Armed with the information Walter provides, it is easy to reduce our exposure to these toxins and carcinogens by simply replacing our current choices with healthier alternatives.

Leanne Meyers, Environmental Activist,,
CEO Prana Entertainment Group

Copyright 2007,
2011 First edition 2007
Second edition 2011

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted electronically without authorized consent of the Freedom Press.

Disclaimer: The material in this presentation is for informational purposes only and not intended for the treatment or diagnosis of individual disease. Please visit a qualified medical or other health professional for specifically diagnosing any ailments mentioned or discussed in detail in this material.

Book design by Bonnie Lambert
Cover design by Emily Kelley

ISBN: 978-1-893910-90-4
Printed in the U.S.A.

Published by Freedom Press
120 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard
Topanga, CA90290

Bulk Orders Available: (800) 959-9797
E-mail: info@freedompressonline.com

Dedicated to everyone striving to reduce their daily
exposures to chemicals in our increasingly toxic world.

Acknowledgements

W HERE DOES ONE BEGIN to acknowledge all the people who have influenced our education and perspectives? If they were alive today, I would personally thank Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring first alerted me to the seriousness of air and water pollution, and people like Dr. Theron Randolph, who tried valiantly to make the public aware of the health risks associated with chemical exposures in the early 1950s. Both wrote books in 1962 that changed my life.

I would also like to thank Sylvia Seymour, whose tireless proofing was indispensable, as well as my brother, Dr. Myles Bader, who gave me encouragement and a great example to follow.

Finally, I would like to recognize the value of the thousands of consumers whose questions over the years directed me to find answers to the issues they were trying so hard to define in an effort to protect their health and the health of their families. Their questions taught me a great deal.

CONTENTS

Foreword

O NE OF THE MOST FREQUENT QUESTIONS I am asked when people consult with me about how to make their homes healthier places to live in is about bedrooms and, in particular, about beds. What is a healthy bed? Are healthy beds really that important? Whats the healthiest bed? Are they worth the investment? Where do you buy one? Is organic really better? What about memory-foam bedsare they any good? Thats why I am so delighted Walt Bader wrote this book. Now I can refer people to this goldmine of information that answers all these questions.

I first discovered Walt and his company, Lifekind, several years ago on the Internet while doing research for my book, Homes That Heal. I was looking for the best organic bed and bedding and was really impressed with the full disclosure Lifekind gave on all their products. I remember thinking, Finally! Someone is doing it right! With so much green-washing going on today, where businesses try to make themselves look more environmentally friendly than they really are and deceive consumers with misleading claims about the all-natural wholesomeness of their products, its increasingly difficult to find companies with vision and integrity providing genuine organic products and great customer service. Walt now brings the same vision and integrity that goes into Lifekind to this book.

The good news is that people are beginning to realize that the health of their home impacts the health of their family. Often the difference between a healthy and a toxic home is simply decided by the consumer choices we make. The bad news is that there are so many poor quality and toxic consumer products on the market, and the everyday person has no way of knowing what they are exposing themselves to. Labels and product ingredient lists rarely show all the dangerous chemicals that can go into making a product.

Thankfully, Walt decided to share his extensive research on beds and compile it into a book so it could be made available to the general public. Contained within these pages you will find a multitude of facts, scientifically valid studies and never-before-available laboratory test results revealing the chemical composition of several popular types of mattresses (such as memory foam). This book is essentially a full disclosure on the hidden truth about beds.

What is so important about bedrooms and beds? As Walt points out, on average we spend about a third of our life in bed. Children, the elderly and sick spend even more time there. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 50 to 70 million Americans (including children) suffer from intermittent sleep disorders, 40 million of which have chronic sleep problems. Sleep is not merely a time out from our busy routines; it is essential for good health, mental and emotional functioning, and safety. Sleep is when the body detoxes and heals itself. Anything that impairs our ability to sleep properly or our quality of sleep has significant impacts on the other two-thirds of our life. What most people dont realize is that the actual bed you sleep in can be the cause of many of these problems.

Sleep Safe points out that while your mattress label may tell you what your mattress is made of, it does not tell you what those materials are made from. Why would you want to know this? Because many commonly used mattress materials are a chemical nightmare. Polyurethane foam, for example, is made from a base of petrochemicals combined with a staggering array of additional chemical ingredients used as stabilizers, catalysts, surfactants, fire retardants, colorants, and blowing agents. Each of these chemicals is associated with a host of environmental problems as well as numerous human health hazards, such as chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function, breathlessness, nausea, vomiting and various allergic reactions. Some are even listed as potential carcinogens and reproductive toxins.