How to Create an Eco-Friendly Sleep Environment

Not only does your sleep environment affect your quality of sleep, but it can also have an impact on the global environment. If you prioritize environmental sustainability in your everyday life, you may be surprised to learn how simple it is to make sustainable choices in your bedroom. One element of sustainability is choosing products that are environmentally friendly. This is largely where the phrase ‘Go Green’ comes from. To live green is to adopt a sustainable approach to life that reduces your impact on natural resources. In addition to living green, you can, also, sleep green. The best way to sleep green is to create an eco-friendly sleeping environment. Keep reading for a list of steps you can take to create an environmentally sound sleep environment.

1. Consider Your Bedroom Lighting

Greenhouse gasses, especially man-made ones, play a substantial role in global warming and ongoing climate change. The largest source of man-made greenhouse gasses comes from the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity. Believe it or not, 17% of that electricity is attributed to our lighting. In order to create a more eco-friendly bedroom, you should opt for more sustainable lighting. Maximizing the amount of natural light in your sleep space is a great place to start. Research even suggests that those who work in or wake up to natural sunlight report feeling less tired and experience deeper sleep. This is likely due to the fact that our circadian rhythms respond to and are regulated by natural daylight.

If your sleep space does not get much natural light, a great alternative to incandescent lighting is LED or CFL lighting. LED lights not only last longer, but they also require much less energy than incandescent bulbs. CFL bulbs are, also, long-lasting and use 25-80% less energy.

2. Increase Energy Efficiency in the Bedroom

Heating our homes costs more money and uses more energy than any other household utility. To reduce the amount of heat you use, try to mitigate drafty doors and windows. A substantial amount of heat is lost through old or poorly sealed doors and windows, which can account for 25-30% of your residential heat. The easiest and most affordable way to combat this, is to caulk or weather-strip around the drafty doors and windows.

If you are living in an older home and are looking for a longer-term solution you might consider using eco-friendly insulation methods. Having a well-insulated home can reduce heat flow, which will reduce the amount of energy required to heat your home, as a result. Sustainable insulation products may be made with cellulose, meaning they contain a higher percentage of recycled content.

3. Adding House Plants to Your Bedroom

House plants are known to help purify and decontaminate the air. They absorb volatile organic compounds such as benzene and ammonia, and improve the quality of air by emitting oxygen. Basically, plants absorb the toxic air and release fresher, cleaner air. which promotes better health and better sleep.

4. Recycle Your Bedroom Furniture

Another simple way to sleep green is to use recycled furniture in your bedroom. You can shop secondhand at used furniture stores or recycle furniture a friend or family member no longer has a need for. Another sustainable alternative to mass-produced furnishings is to buy furniture made from recycled wood, plastic, or metal. Recycling furniture prevents old furniture and materials from being tossed into landfills, which creates a smaller carbon footprint and helps to decrease the depletion of natural resources.

5. Invest in Organic Bedding and a Sustainable Mattress

What you sleep on is just as important as where you sleep. If you are transitioning to a more environmentally conscious lifestyle, you want your mattress and bedding to reflect those green, sustainable choices. The best way to accomplish this is to invest in an eco-friendly mattress and natural bedding. Our most sustainable product at BedInABox® would be our Eco-Lux® mattress. Manufactured sustainably and constructed with only foams that meet the USDA Bio-Preferred® Certification program, our Eco-Lux® is the only green mattress on the market to hold the USDA Bio-Preferred® designation. Every component of our Eco-Lux® has also received the STANDARD 100 BY OEKO-TEX® certification, meaning your entire mattress, from the organic cotton cover to the 11” memory foam core, has been tested and certified to be free of potentially harmful materials. And like all other BedInABox® mattresses, the Eco-Lux® is made with CertiPUR-US® certified memory foam, meeting all standards for content, durability and emissions.

To pair with your environmentally friendly Eco-Lux® mattress, consider our BedInABox® Tencel Sheets. The Tencel, itself, is a soft botanical fiber that contains moisture management properties and temperature regulating qualities that will keep you sleeping comfortably season after season.

At the end of the day, protecting the quality of your sleep environment is just as important as protecting the quality of our Earth. Creating a more eco-friendly sleep space will not only contribute to the well-being of the global environment, but will also be beneficial to your personal health and well-being. If you have any questions about our sustainability efforts at BedInABox® or the sustainability of our Eco-Lux® mattress, please feel free to contact our Customer Service team, who is always happy to help.