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Why Choose a Non-Toxic Mattress

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Why Choose a Non-Toxic Mattress by Ashley of MyHeartBeets.com

I’ve been sleeping very well, you guys.

I got a new mattress several months ago and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s a non-toxic mattress and today I’m going to tell you why we decided to make the switch.

After moving to a new (but very old) home last year, I decided that I wanted a new non-toxic mattress. I did plenty of research and came across the company: intelliBED. Today, I’m sharing my experience with intelliBED in this blog post – the good AND the bad.

First, I want to say that choosing a mattress is a personal decision. Unless you’re rollin’ in dough, a non-toxic mattress is a big purchase (a few thousand dollars) so if you’re thinking about buying this mattress, you should definitely take some time to make a decision, you know, sleep on it. ? SORRY. You know me. I couldn’t resist throwing in a pun… okay, all seriousness from here on out. One thing you should know is that intelliBED has offered to give my readers who are interested a discount on ANY of their products including their mattress and full disclosure, I’ll get a commission too. 

To get a 10% discount on ANY intelliBED product, use the code: MYHEARTBEETS using this link or tell them the code when you call

I am 100% about being authentic and up front with you guys. So if you have questions, leave me a comment and I’ll answer it as best I can. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll do my best to find out. 

Here’s what you need to know if you’re considering buying an intelliBED.

The mattress I’m using is NOT organic. According to the company however, it is non-toxic.

What’s the difference? An organic mattress is usually made of organic materials like hay, feathers, wool, cotton. These materials can break down quickly, which means these mattresses will likely need replacing more often. A non-toxic mattress like intelliBED is made out of a rubber material that helps to evenly distribute weight and therefore hopefully reduce pressure on your back and hips.

So why didn’t I go for an organic mattress? To be honest, if I had the budget to replace a mattress every few years, an organic mattress is an option I’d seriously consider. But mattresses are expensive and so I want a bed that’s going to last and I just can’t see an organic mattress lasting me more than a decade (if anyone reading this has had an organic mattress last them longer than a decade, please let me know). My mattress comes with a 30-year warranty (10 years full and 20 years prorated).

Why buy a non-toxic mattress?

I opted for a non-toxic mattress because I wanted a bed that would provide me with full body support while still using the cleanest mattress ingredients available. We spend so much of our time in bed with our faces sometimes buried into our mattress and pillows that it only makes sense to want to sleep in a clean environment.

When Roby and I first got married, we bought a memory foam mattress from overstock for a couple hundred bucks. It came rolled up and after we unrolled it, it smelled AWFUL. We put the mattress in the guest room and left it there for over a month until the smell finally became bearable. I didn’t know then, but that smell was “off gassing.”

“Off gassing” is a chemical smell – it’s from the chemicals that mattress companies add to their beds to make them resistant to stains, dust mites, fire, etc. IntelliBED uses a fire blocker made out of glass fiber strands and the rest of their materials are hypoallergenic and do not off-gas. When we first got the intelliBED, there was absolutely no smell and I don’t know about you but I’d rather sleep on a bed that doesn’t stink.

This mattress isn’t soy-free.

So you might be like “um Ash, I don’t plan on eating the mattress….” And I get that, but this is something I want you to be aware of. Why does this matter? Well, there IS a material in this bed called “soy foam” which is similar to the foam that you’ll find in a regular mattress. According to intelliBED, there are several inches of polyurathane foam that make up the bed. It’s the polyurathane foam that has the soy foam in it. Typically, polyurathane foam is made with petroleum based chemicals but intelliBED says they actually pay more for their foam, which replaces 10-15% of the petroleum chemicals with soy. So while it is still petroleum based, they say they try to buy the cleanest foam they can. They tell me that in their 15 years, they haven’t had anyone complain about having a reaction to their beds.

So what is this mattress made of? 

Before I tell you what’s in it, you should know what’s not in it. IntelliBED is free from memory foam, boric acid, natural latex foam (many people are allergic to latex) and an air chamber (can promote mold growth). *Some beds do use a special form of latex (talalay) which the company says has been processed to remove the protein which causes allergic reactions.

The bed is made up of: 100 percent cotton cover, innerspring, 2-3 inches of foam as mentioned above and 2-3 inches of Intelli-GEL® which is a copolymer rubber gel material made from food grade mineral oil. The gel has been used in hospitals for serious wound care support for burn victims and for curing bed sores. Because fire blockers are mandated by the government, intelliBED uses a silica based fire blocker rather than boric acid, which is a chemical that many other companies use.

The kid-size beds do not use foam and that’s because kids are light enough so that when they lay down on the gel, they basically float on it.

It takes some time to get used to.

The first few nights I slept on this bed, I thought something was wrong. It was like I was floating on the bed but not necessarily in a good way. It was almost like I was sleeping on an airbed. This bed is firm, but not uncomfortably firm. It was just very different than what I was used to. After all, for the past several years I had been sleeping/sinking into my memory foam bed. I wanted to give the new mattress a fair shot and after about a week, I realized that I couldn’t go back to memory foam. My neck pain was practically gone (it’s completely gone now) and my back no longer aches. I can’t say for sure that the bed fixed those two problems but I haven’t made any other changes in my life other than switching out my mattress. I’m pretty sure that this mattress forces me to have good posture while I sleep (now I just need a chair that forces me to do that when I’m awake). I think that I toss and turn less than I used to and this mattress also keeps me perfectly cool throughout the night.

How to Save on your intelliBED even if you’re on a Budget:

When you order, make sure to use the coupon code MYHEARTBEETS to save 10% on your order.

IntelliBED offers a 60-day trial period so you can try the bed out to see if it’s right for you. One caveat: if you decide to return the bed, the company will not return the shipping fee: $269 or the cost of the mattress protector: $90. There’s no extra fee to pick up the bed for a return though. Also, pillows and sheets are non-refundable.

They also offer financing: 12 months 0% interest or 60 months with interest. This way you don’t have to pay everything up front.

On a tight budget? If you can’t afford the bed yet, you can always buy a mattress topper to give you a bit more cushion between you and your current bed. They’ll still give you the 10% discount!

And for the next month, intelliBED is offering my readers special gifts if you decide to get a queen bed or larger! Just make sure to use the code MYHEARTBEETS 🙂

  • 10% off your order
  • 2 intelliPillows (a $299.90 value)
  • 1 Set of Bamboo Sheets (up to $189.99 value)

OR

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alright, that’s a wrap. Goodnight!! Sweet (non-toxic) Dreams!! ?

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Comments

  1. Marley says

    Hi Ashley,

    I want to go the non-toxic route, so I wondered if you are still enjoying your Intellibed? Also, do you have an opinion on the Eco Terra mattress (just wondering if you researched it as well during the initial phases of your shopping)?

    Thanks,

    Marley

    Reply

  2. Michelle Henry says

    Great post! I appreciate you mentioned it takes a few nights to get used to it. With most new mattresses this is the case and it’s a good thing! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  4. Margaret says

    Someday I’ll be able to afford non-toxic bedding. I need a mattress topper though, so I may check them out for that. With MCS I react to so many things 🙁 Thanks for hosting the pillow giveaway!

    Reply

  5. Katherine says

    This sounds really interesting. I switched recently to just a latex topper on top of slats to give me a firmer bed and reduce allergens in the bedroom. It’s helped a lot.

    Reply

  12. Carole VanNess says

    Non toxic is the only way to go!.I still have an organic futon as a guest bed with out fire retardant. My Dr. Years ago prescribed it as necessary. So grateful you are bringing this into the limelight..most people just are not aware. Thanks for letting us know about this company! And your recipes Rock:)

    Reply

  17. Isabel says

    This is definitely a subject that I don’t know very much about – how a mattress can affect your health and the environment. Thanks for sharing some great information. I’m due to buy a new mattress in the next 2 years, so I’m definitely looking into this some more.

    Reply

  19. Shari Z says

    Thanks for having such an amazing giveaway! I so would love to win this bed. My husband and I are desperate for a new bed — the one we currently have is wreaking havoc with our sleep schedules, not to mention our bodies and we can’t afford to get a new one just yet 🙁

    Reply

  20. Lisa Schultz says

    Our budget could only afford the mattress topper, and it had been amazing! No more shoulder or hip pain from the mattress. Also, my son has severe allergies and asthma and He has not reacted to the mattress.

    Reply

  23. Claire says

    I’ve been wanting an intelliBed for a couple years now, but they’ve been too expensive for me yet. So it would be awesome to at least have the pillows! Thanks!

    Reply

  25. joanna says

    oh gosh, i’d kill for some new pillows. i usually buy the cheap ones at kohl’s but these look like top notch pillows!

    Reply

  26. LaTanya says

    We’ve been trying to decide on a new mattress. We bought a memory foam mattress off amazon a year ago and it was ok for the first couple of months but now it has the dips in it and makes my husband so hot. We’ve got to replace it soon but the fear of spending a lot of money and hating a mattress keeps me from making a decision. We’ll have to look at the intellbed closer and see if it would work for us.

    Reply

  28. Therese Totten says

    We have a Tempur-pedic, wish we had known about this; maybe next time! Also, my little boy does need a bed, hmm!

    Reply

  34. Alex B. says

    Wow, thanks for such a detailed review! I just found out that I have to make changes with my bedding due to severe dust mite allergies, so this came at a good time… If I have to do non-allergenic, might as well look into non-toxic! 🙂

    Reply

  36. Sonya says

    I would love to replace my children’s mattresses with this type of mattress. They are both on the spectrum and I am always trying to find ways to reduce the toxins we are all exposed to. Thanks for sharing info about a non-toxic option 😉

    Reply

  40. eva andrew says

    the mattress I sleep on is really old(it came from my parents’ house and it was my bed as a child…a long time ago…) so I have been thinking about a mattress and non toxic is the way to go. The pillows would be the best way to see if it would work. Thank you for the chance to win them.

    Reply

  44. Ginal says

    Great timing, I just started researching pillows and I was completely unaware that my bed could be toxic!!!! Thank you for all the information and sharing your experience!

    Reply

  45. Marcella says

    I wish we could afford new mattresses for the whole family. Maybe in a few years…New pillows would definitely be a great start, though!

    Reply

  47. Angelica says

    This post is perfectly timed. After five years our green memory foam bed is no longer the perfect bed we thought it was on day one. We’re both having issues with our backs and the bed just hasn’t held up. Intellibed definitely sounds worth looking into!

    Reply

  48. Caitlin M says

    I found out about non-toxic bedding the hard way. I got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and discovered that even my bed, the place I needed to spend most of my time, was making me sick.
    Thank you for the information and the chance to win!

    Reply

  50. Veronica says

    I’ve been hearing about this bed for some time and it sounds great! I would love to win some pillows as our current pillows are terrible! Thank you for the chance to win!

    Reply

  51. Michelle Ward says

    I never knew about off gassing or thought about chemicals in my mattress until now. Your post was very enlightening.

    Reply

  58. Leslie says

    I have never thought about a mattress being toxic but it makes sense….so many things we need to consider about the world around us!

    Reply

  59. latanya says

    I have never thought that mattress could be toxic and that is pretty bad because we sleep on them everyday, year after year.

    Reply

  60. Deb C says

    Thanks for the review. Although I have tried for many years, I have never found “the one” when it comes to mattresses or pillows. After adding a thick memory foam topper to my bed recently, I noticed a strong chemical odor for weeks. That can’t be good. I would appreciate a non-toxic mattress. The pillows would be great to try.

    Reply

  61. Beth says

    Oooh I have been interested in intellibed for a while… my babies always sleep on covered mattresses (babe safe non-toxic, non-leaking covers), due to the toxic gasses and chemicals in mattresses. But they don’t have one for king size beds. I’d love to get everyone in the house a non-toxic or organic mattress. I just need to figure out how to get my husband to agree to it. 🙂

    Reply

  67. Kim says

    I’ve heard so much about non-toxic bedding and I’m so intrigued! I can’t justify (or afford) the cost at this stage in my life, but maybe someday… 🙂

    Reply
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