11-9-2012

Mattress fact or fiction part 3, coils cause pressure points?

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One of the statements that foam beds and air beds make is that “coils cause pressure points”.   Not all coils cause pressure points.  And not all foams relieve pressure points.  Foams that are hard or that compress quickly are just as likely to cause pressure points.  Air beds that are inflated too firmly can also cause pressure points, and conversely, if they are not inflated enough, they can compromise alignment.

As I have explained in an earlier blog, what you want for better pressure distribution is a system that allows for independent response.  On your side position, you need response to your curves, giving where you are wider and heavier.  On your back you want to allow your hips to drop but your lumbar to be lifted, supporting your lumbar arch.

I have also explained that a individual encased coil, or pocketed coil if assembled properly can give you that independent response.  the key to reduce pressure points is to not have a mattress that is so firm that it does not conform whether it is coils or foam, yet obviously you do not want to have a mattress that sags and compromises you alignment.

Some of the most pressure relieving mattresses use the indivdually encased coils, such as Hastens and Carpe Diem out of Sweden and Vi-Spring from the UK.  All of these manufacturers offer dual firmness, which allows each person in a shared bed to have the proper coil tension for their body frame.

10-2-2012

Mattress facts or fiction part 2, sleeping hot.

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In this series of blog posts, my goal is to attempt to discuss topics that are often brought up by not just consumers, but players in the mattress industry and hopefully give some perspective to these topics.  So do some mattresses sleep hotter than others?  Should this be a concern for everyone?  The reality is that if you’ve been sleeping on a conventional mattress and heat wasn’t an issue, then most current mattresses should not sleep that much hotter for you.  Conventional mattresses use synthetic foams and fibers that do not breathe and often hold moisture.  Which can certainly contribute to sleeping hotter. 

So why is “sleeping hot” such a “hot” topic currently, excuse the pun?  This subject has been discussed more over the past 10 years or so.  When Tempur-Pedic started to become popular, “sleeping hot” was one of the criticisms that other mattress manufacturers would focus on.  It was natural to associate heat with Tempur-Pedic due to the name.  Tempur-Pedic responded by explaining that the Tempur foam had an “open cell structure”.

So what are the facts about sleeping hot?  First the major source of heat in your mattress is the person that is sleeping in it.  Do some people generate more heat than others?  Absolutely yes, my ex-wife would tell me she could feel the heat from my body from 5′ away, I have a very high metabolic rate.  Do certain materials trap that heat and others dissapate it?  Well we know that synthetics don’t breathe well, while natural fibers do breathe.

Does air circulate through foam?  The 2 most popular foams that are rated high in terms of performance are memory foam and latex.  They both claim “open cells”.  But you have to understand that the reason they both perform well in terms of support and durability is that they are both very dense foams.  A quality memory foam or latex mattress weighs as much or more than a quality innerspring mattress.  Will air flow through small openings as easily it flows through larger openings?

A good comparison is the current very popular mattress protector technology.  They are waterproof, but still allow some airflow.  One of the common demonstrations of this is that they will have a jar with glass cleaner liquid inside.  The jar is sealed at the top with the mattress protector material.  The jar is turned upside down to show that the liquid does not escape and then you are instructed to smell and you can smell the ammonia of the glass cleaning solution inside the jar.  That demonstrates that it is a selective membrane that has openings too small for liquid, but air can still flow through.  However we would still have a few customers that would complain about “sleeping hot” in a mattress that we knew should not sleep hot.  They would be using the mattress protector, and we would ask them to sleep without the mattress protector.  They would not have the heat issue when they did not use the mattress protector.  Even though the mattress protector membrane would allow some air to flow, the openings are extremely small and so the air does not flow as freely as say through pure cotton or wool.

Another reason you might sleep hotter in a mattress is if you lay deeper into it.  Your body heat will heat up the area that you are laying in quicker, because more of your body is in contact with the sleep surface.  Also if you move less frequently as many do in a memory foam mattress, your body heat will build up around you for longer periods and so it will be perceived to sleep hotter.  Less tossing and turning can provide more restful sleep, but if you wake up hot, it can negate that benefit.

What will sleep cooler?  definitely having a breathable layer immediately beneath and if it’s wool, that layer can also help reduce humidity around you since the wool wicks moisture away.  Coils will definitely allow the air to circulate more freely than sold foam.  Also quality handmade mattresses often have air vets, like Vi-Spring from England.  Their mattresses use only natural fibers, including wool and pocketed innersprings that have natural calico cotton encasements and air vents that go completely around the entire mattress.

 

 

09-17-2012

Mattress facts or fiction part 1. Will your mattress double it’s weight in 8-10 years?

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I will be publishing a series of blogs to address several questionable assertions that have been circulating regarding mattresses.  The first one that has been a topic of discussion for awhile is the “dust mite” issue.  Most recently  there is a claim circulating that claims the Wall Street Journal as the source, stating that a mattress will double it’s weight in 8-10 years due to the accumulation of dust mites and their excrement inside the mattress.

Most credible sources will say it is more likely to be 20 lbs.  Which is scary enough.   The fact is that that dust mites are a very common trigger for allergic reactions.  Another fact is, it is actually their excrement that is the real trigger.  Dust mites are attacted to our beds and bedding because they have two elements that nourish them.  Moisture and decomposing organic material, our skin cells that we slough off as we sleep.  We release 16 oz. of water as we sleep and it goes into our bedding and mattress.  Duvet and and pillows along with your mattress are where the moisture tends to accumulate.

But it can be simple to prevent the dust mite accumulation in your bedding and mattress.  Regular washing of your bedding in hot water.  Use pillows and duvets made of materials that don’t hold moisture.  Unfortunately feathers and most common foams or fibers do hold moisture, but wool and latex do not.   Using and washing a mattress protector along with your bedding.  Also if a mattress is breathable and made of materials that don’t hold in moisture, such as wool and latex, it will not be as likely to habor the build up of dust mites.

The internet is a great tool, but can also be a source of missleading information.  I will be attempting to provide accurate information on a variety of issues and questions in future blogs.  I welcome any comments to these as I post them.  If anyone has subjects or questions that you would like me to cover, please feel free to ask them.

 

08-8-2012

How do you maximize the investment of a college education? Getting a good night’s sleep is the answer.

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You’re sending your son or daughter off to college and you are compiling a list of what they need to give them the best tools to maximize your investment in their education.  But you may have overlooked the most important learning aid.  Studies show that the key the learning is a good night’s sleep.  Sleep is critical to the retention of new information and and skills.  Studies that compared the performance of students that crammed before being tested with little or no sleep and students that did not cram and slept for 8 hours prior to the test, showed that the students with the 8 hours sleep performed better.  Sleep is critical to the brain’s ability to sort and store information.

How do you improve the odds of your son or daughter getting a good night’s sleep?  You can’t control their schedule or activities, but you can improve their sleeping environment.  Dorm mattresses are notorious for being hard and uncomfortable and unfortunately maybe not the best in terms of hygiene.  The easiest way to protect your young genius is to enclose the dorm mattress in a zipper or at the very least use a mattress protector that has a barrier to not protect the mattress, but protect something much more precious, your son or daughter.  Then to help them sleep better use an all natural or organic topper, that will add comfort and not expose them to potential harmful chemical fire retardants and give them a comfortable sleep surface.

So the most important items on your ”Back to School” list might be a “natural” or “organic” mattress topper and a good mattress protector or cover.

05-31-2012

Is your mattress giving you a bad “impression”?

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“Body impressions” are normal with the vast majority of mattresses.  Depending on the amount of “impression” or the support component they may not have a significant effect on the quality of your sleep.

Conventional innerspring mattresses will have a “tolerance” of 1.5″ of  “impression” or indentation and some of the really thick pillow-top mattresses will even goes as high as a 2″ tolerance.   Usually the “impression” is not caused by the coils, it is a compression of the cushioning materials, which can be a combination of foams and fiber.

If the coil system is highly responsive, such as a pocket coil system, your alignment and pressure distribution should still be be pretty good even with an 1″ to 1.5″ impression in the mattress.   But some sleepers may still have issues with that.

Prior to the year 2000, most mattresses were “2-sided” or required to be ”flipped” and rotated.  Currently the vast majority of mattresses are “1-sided” or “non-flip”.  Consumers were told they no longer had to “flip” their mattress.  But what wasn’t explained is that now they COULD NOT flip their mattress.

The high end “two-sided mattresses” if properly maintained would perform well for 20+ years.  The “non-flip” mattress consumers often complain that within a few months they have a “body impression” and now they can’t flip their mattress.  There are still quality “2-sided mattresses” like those that are handcrafted by 110 year old Vi-Spring.

So what mattresses will not develop a significant “impression”?  All fibers will compress.   That compression can be somewhat reduced if they are “hand tufted”.   For example, a Vi-Spring mattresses will be anywhere from 4″-6″ thicker before the ”tufts” are sewn through the mattress, top to bottom.  The “hand tufting” pre-compresses the mattress.

Most conventional cushioning foams will compress fairly quickly.  The exceptions are higher density “memory foam” and latex foam.  These are known for their shape retention and yet perform well for pressure relief.

Mattresses can be made entirely of latex foam.  Latex is known to resist forming “body impressions”.  Memory foam mattresses are not made entirely of memory foam,  usually the top 3″-6″ of the mattress is memory foam over a very firm polyurethane base.  If the memory foam is of high quality, these mattresses again are very resistant to “body impressions”.

If you want to be impressed with your mattress and not leave an “impression” in your mattress, hopefully this post gives you some options.

05-30-2012

Confessions of a poor sleeper

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I have to confess to have always been a poor sleeper.  If the average person tosses and turns 60-80 times a night, you could have doubled that for me.  My poor ex-wives would often complain about my restlessness.  On average for the major part of my almost 60 years I usually get 3-5 hours of sleep, my mother would often complain about how light a sleeper I was, especially when she would try to arrange all the Christmas presents left by Santa.

I was always the first awake in my family and always when on vacations I’m the one cooking breakfast while everyone is still asleep.  Yes, as long as you don’t have to sleep with me, I’m the perfect travel companion.

So how am I in the mattress business, since I’m not in my mattress as much as most people?  Well I have learned that I can improve the quality of those 3-5 hours.  If I’m not able to go back to sleep within 20 minutes, I don’t fight it.  I get up and read, or do something around my home, until I feel tired.

I feel that the quality of my sleep has improved, with less restlessness due to selecting a mattress set that really does distribute my pressure more evenly and allows my spine to be more naturally aligned.  Also I do sleep in a bed made of natural materials, so no exposure to chemicals.

I’m not sure whether it is a blessing or a curse, but my system just is not suited to 8 hours.  I think that is one of the most important lessons I have learned being in the mattress business, what works or is natural for one person, does not work for the the next person.  Each of us have unique sleep requirements and challenges.

05-25-2012

Anatomy of sleep Part 2

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Previously we discussed factors of the back sleeping.  There are advantages of sleeping in the back position.  Pressure is more evenly distributed over a larger surface compared to the side position.  In the side position the body profile is more pronounced.  There is a greater varience in your side profile vs. the back profile.  In addition when you sleep on your side you put pressure into your two major joint complexes, the shoulders and hips.  Your major blood vessels and nerves run through those joints and pressure builds quickly, causing discomfort that requires a position change as you sleep.

Most people are primarily side sleepers and because of pressure they change position on average 50-70 times a night.  If a mattress conforms to the body profile, it will even out the pressure and thus can greatly reduce the frequency of movement.

Why are most of us side sleepers?  It really is a matter of anatomy.  The major movements that our bodies make are do to muscles that are paired, one pushes, while the other pulls.  When the movement is at one end the other the muscle that is responsible for that motion is tight or strained, if you are in the middle of that motion range, both muscles are in a relaxed state.  For example, the bicep muscle pulls and the tricep muscle pushes.  When the elbow is bent it in is the middle of that motion and both the bicep and tricep can be relaxed.  The same is true with the quadracep and hamstring muscles, when the knee is bent they both are relaxed.  This bent knee and bent elbow can not be achieved naturally on your back, only when you turn to your side can you be in the “neutral position”.

Scientists performed studies of astronauts in space.  They slept floating in “zero gravity” in space and they assumed that “neutral position”.  It is also the same position that fetuses assume, and is often referred to as the “fetal position”.  This position can not be acheived naturally on our back.

If the mattress conforms to the body profile whether you are on your back or side, your spine will be supported in a more natural alignment.  The shoulders and hips should be allowed to drop, while the lumbar is lifted and supported, thus reducing the torque in the thorasic and lumabar vertebrae.

This conforming again is best acheived by utilization of “pocketed coils” and foams with elastic properties like “memory foam” or latex.

05-15-2012

Anatomy of Sleep Part 1

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There are anatomic challenges to sleep.  People have long been conditioned that a firm bed is the best for their back.  If that was the case then a wooden board would be the best bed.  Even if you sleep exclusively on your back, you want a mattress to respond to your curves. 

Because the human species adapted to walk upright on two feet, our spine adapted to form an “S” curve.  If the spine was absolutely straight the very bottom of our spine would be subjected to the entire pressure load.  The curved shape of our spine deflects vertical pressure to horizontal vectors.  That means even on our back ideally we want a mattress to provide lift in our lumbar area and allow our hip and torso to drop. 

Even those suffering from severe back pain may be instructed to lay on their back on the floor, but with their knees lifted.  That tilts the hip and flattens the lumbar curve also relaxing the lower back muscles.

Fortunately for the majority of people our body mass distribution helps a responsive mattress support our natural spinal alignment.  We are heavier in our hips and torso so those areas should drop and that should allow for more lift in the lumbar region.  If a mattress is not engineered to provide “independant response” then you could have a “hammock effect”.  The weight of our hips could bring the lumbar area down if that area does not have the capacity to react independantly.

That is why” individually wrapped” coils or “pocketed coils” are the best coil design and if the support/response element is foam, “memory foam” or latex foam is best.  They both have an elastic property that allows for greater” independant response” and eliminates the “hammock effect”.

The “independant response” property of these systems also has a collaterall benefit, motion does not transfer through the bed, so there is far less partner disturbance.   If you have a sleep partner they may not be the same size as you.  If someone is lighter they may need a “softer” more responsive support, while if you’re heavier you need “firmer” more lifting support.

 

04-24-2012

Sheep are not just Good for Counting, They Help You Sleep Better

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Research performed by the Australian Wool Innovation organization proves that wool “delivers 25% more deep regenerative sleep”.  If you are surrounded by higher humidity your sleep can be restless.   Wool has greater thermoregulatory properties.  It not only is a good insulator but wool fibres absorb moisture and wick it away into the atmosphere to reduce humidity in your sleep environment. 

That same property in wool can also actually lower your heart rate as you sleep and lead to a more relaxed sleep.  That has not only short term benefit, but also long term heart benefits.

Wool is naturally hygienic.  Wool inhibits the growth of bacteria, fungi and dust mites.  Wool is also a “natural fire barrier”.  Fire fighters’ protective uniforms were originally made from wool.  So if mattresses are properly insulated with wool, there is no need for chemical fire retardants.  For these reasons, wool is the natural choice for those that suffer with asthma or allergies.

Studies have shown that babies sleeping in wool are less stressed when sleeping, and have less clammy skins which leads to fewer rashes and bed sores.  They also have better appetites and underweight newborns sleeping with wool bedding gain weight.

So sheep can really help you sleep better.

04-16-2012

The Miracle Drug: A Prescription to Better Health

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If a doctor told you that he could prescribe something that would help you lose weight, control conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and stress and it could improve your memory and ability to learn new tasks.  And he also told you the only side effects are being happier, more productive and healthier.  What if it costs less than a dollar per day?  Would you buy it?

What is this miracle?  It’s getting better sleep.  Seems pretty simple but you do need to spend some time and effort in determining how to achieve that, starting with your mattress.  You might want to check out What Dr. Neil Stanley has to say: http://good-sleep.wholelifewholeworld.com/about/articles-with-neil-on-the-bbc-website/