"I havn't been to sleep for over a year. That's why I go to bed early. One needs more rest if one doesn't sleep."

-Evelyn Waugh

For years we've been pondering the many factors that contribute to deeper sleep; however, the flip-side of that discussion are the many potential sleep disturbors, many of which we all personally experience. We strive to head these off with specific bedding solutions or better sleep practices and pre-bedtime sleep rituals, but the elephant in the room is undeniably INSOMNIA, the polar-opposite of sleep. For me its the frequent vampire moment - usually at about 3:15 am, when its "eyes-wide-open" and that rush of awakeness is sprung upon me, and for no good reason. Being a small business owner probably has something to do with this (always thinking about work). I often give in to that temptation to crack open the laptop and check email, or read all the "good news" that our 24x7 media loves to tout. Anyway, turns out insomnia is becoming a growing public health problem, according to a recent Lancet study. Read more about this in this HuffPost article.

European Sleep Design’s first blog. People like blogs on web sites, I think it keeps a site in real-time, plus it lets the people who view the site know that the creators of the site still look at their web site. Well at least that is my opinion, and since I’m the writer of this blog entry, my opinion is what you get.

So the whole “organic mattress” scene is a subject that provides me with a lot of laughs, internally of course, because I’m someone who generally tries & succeeds in being empathetic of others thought processes. That being said, I couldn’t hold back my dismay when I visited a dear friend recently. These friends of mine are a family of five, with their eldest child being 2 now and ready for her own “big girl bed”.

Hold on a minute…Let me give you a brief back story so you can picture this family. I’ve known the wife of this family for 14 years and then her husband for the five years they’ve been happily married. He entered our lives “all organic” preaching and critical of all the toxins I was eating and serving my family. Most people get turned on to this whole organic world with a friend like this… I don’t eat any of the foods I ate in my 20’s anymore and I certainly won’t let my precious little daughters even think of eating those foods. Can you picture this guy? Do you know someone like him? I mean, I couldn’t even talk on the phone to my friend, his wife, without him telling me -through the phone- something wrong I was doing. Well he worked his magic and the organic foods spread throughout my family. FYI it hasn’t tickled my husband’s fancy very much, but that’s another blog. Like most people, once you start on the organic food path, it truly is endless because it leads you to everything else… So, back to the original blog point.

Working here at European Sleep Design has me knowing more about the mattress world than all of my friends and family combined. So now I’m slyly that person who is preaching and judging what they are all sleeping on…lucky for all of them, huh? I actually don’t say too much unless they ask, because if they aren’t going to change the horror of what they are sleeping on, I don’t want to gross them out, when that is their only material option to relax and catch some ZZZZZZZ’s. But, my friend’s two-year-old’s sleeping arrangement was another story. My love for this little girl is pretty close to my own affection for my daughters. I literally gasp when I’m getting the tour of her new sleeping arrangement – the mattress is chemical free and a great mattress (they got it from me….our Child’s mattress for $389) - but, they put a waterproof cover on the mattress that is stinking up the room! I think a plastic garbage bag would have been better. When a product you bring into your house smells that bad and you can’t place the smell, like say onions or a wool pillow, then you can pretty much guess... chemicals! They stink because of all the chemicals needed to make the product. This should be a sign not to use it! And certainly not to put the pride and joy of our lives – our children – on it for 12 hours of their day!!! Then my eyes are locked on the mountain of a pillow they plan to have this little girl’s head rest on. It’s an “extra pillow”, you know the kind, you’ve had it for years, maybe since your college days and it gets pulled out when guests come and you have to use two pillow cases to cover the stained cover. This is their choice for her pillow. If she lies on it she’ll look like she’s sitting up because it’s too tall. And when she rolls off of it to sleep at night, the dust mites and allergens that have been growing in there for the last decade will clog up her little breathing airways. So like any great friend, who has my own house filled with healthy sleep options, I go get her one of my daughters extra ½ latex pillows that is covered in an organic cotton cover and tell her about our own organic water proof mattress protector pad. I take this chemically-made plastic liner off the bed for her to return and actually throw away that old wretched pillow. Now that little girl (and myself) can rest a little easier at night. She’ll sleep better because she won’t be breathing harmful chemicals and allergens, and I’ll rest better knowing someone I love is sleeping safely.