Tips for Creating a Healthier Sleeping Place           You spend a third of your life in the bedroom. The bedroom is a place to rest, heal and grow. Sleeping is the time when the body tries to rejuvenate itself from the daily exposure to pollutants and stress. Continued exposure to pollutants and electromagnetic radiation interrupt this process. Children are particularly affected. The following are a few suggestions to make your bedroom a healthier place:           Minimize the presence of electricity. Electricity is very useful and we cannot live with out it, but we shouldn’t be unnecessarily exposed to it during our sleep. Fatigue, insomnia, bedwetting and allergy aggravation have all been associated with electromagnetic fields1. Simply turning things off is not sufficient, as electric field is present if something is plugged in, even if it is turned off. Electrical wiring inside the wall behind the bed is therefore a concern. This may sound extreme but it can affect your heath and there are some very practical and easy things you can do to improve you sleeping spot.           Use a battery operated alarm clock. Besides removing a source of EMF, it takes up less space and looks better. Remove as many electrical devices as possible from the bedroom, especially near the bed. These include radios, TV, answer machine, phone, lamps, VCR, etc. If you must have these in the bedroom keep them at least six feet from your bed. It is not sufficient to turn something off, it must be unplugged, and otherwise there will still be an electric field that you can measure on your body with a simple ohm meter from Radio Shack. Do not use electric blankets or water bed heaters or put them on timers to go off after you fall asleep. Do not place the head of bed against a wall that has a computer, fuse box, or appliance located on the other side. If you are having trouble sleeping try and move the bed to a different location in the room. If you really want to create an electromagnetic-fee sleeping zone, identify which circuit breakers supply the bedroom and turn them off at night.           Get a Healthy Bed. Metal frames and mattress springs can cause localized magnetic fields in the bed. Place a compass on the bed. Notice what direction the needle is pointing. Now, holding the compass against the mattress, move it around the bed. The needle will change direction somewhat because of the metal coils in the bed. Your body is electric. Think about the potential chaotic effect metal has on the cells in your body while you are sleeping at night.           Avoid metal bed frames and mattress with metal springs. The bed should be made of a wood base with a natural, organic fiber mattress material such as cotton or wool. Pillows, sheets and comforters should be organic cotton or wool. Polyurethane foam pillows and mattress, polyester bedding, and no-iron sheets all contain formaldehyde and other chemicals that outgas near your face while you are sleeping and negatively affect the natural balance of ions in the room.           Eliminate as much plastic as possible. The out-gassing of chemicals in plastics has been implicated with asthma, breathing difficulties, itchy eyes and irritability. Plastics deplete negative ions from the air – ions that are responsible for feeling good.           Especially remove vinyl and PVC such as found in imitation leather, waterbeds, mini-blinds, synthetic, fuzzy blankets, plastic lamp shades and plastic furniture.           Prevent Mold. If you use a humidifier, do not use a humidifier that contains a pad. The pad is made of cellulose and will eventually grow mold and bacteria. Clean humidifiers and keep the relative humidity indoors below 50%.           Use non-fragrant laundry soap. One of the biggest exposures to chemicals is from sheets and pillowcases that have been washed using fragranced laundry detergent and fabric softeners.           Use non-fragrance laundry soap and fabric softeners. Avoid softeners if possible. Do not use plug-in or aerosol air fresheners. Do not use mothballs. Do not store dry-cleaned cloths in the bedroom closet.           Maintain a natural balance of ions. It is preferable to have balance of positive and negative ions in the room air, with slightly more negative ions than positive ones. This is what’s present in nature.           Avoid synthetic carpets and blankets that reduce the negative ions. Stuffed animals that children sleep with should be made with natural materials such as cotton. Otherwise there is a depletion of negative ions in the vicinity of their breathing zone. Don’t use negative ion generators. These generate ozone, a respiratory irritant. If you want a healthy bedroom remove what is making it unhealthy. Don’t’ try to put a band-aid on it. What would Mother Nature do?           Air Filtration and ventilation           Get a HEPA air purifier for the bedroom. It may be too noisy to run all night. Turn it on high-speed an hour or so before you will be in the bedroom. You should be able to turn it down or even off at night. To avoid the magnetic field from with it, keep it several feet away from the bed. Open a window. Wind generally blows west to east, so if possible open appropriate widows for cross ventilation. Don’t keep the litter box in the bedroom. Rid the bedroom of unnecessary clutter that collect dust such as stuffed animals and old, upholstered furniture.           Layout for health           Keep the bedroom furnishings simple and uncluttered. The Chinese ancient art of Feng Shui suggests that bed be positioned diagonally opposite the door with the head of the bed away from it. This allows a view of the entry and control of one’s destiny. Ideally the bedroom should be on the shaded, quiet side of the house away from noise and traffic. Double glazed window will help reduce nose. In apartments, sound proofing walls and ceilings may be helpful. Just moving the bed to a different location either in the same or a different room has alleviated symptoms of dis-ease and improved sleep for some individuals.               Back to top                            Copyright © 2014-2017 Healthy Living Spaces LLC.  All rights reserved.   877-992-9904 Revised: July 05, 2017. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or trademark holders.