The Importance Of A Bed by Dr Neil Stanley

Man since time immemorial has slept on a ‘bed’. For most of history this was just an animal pelt or some plant matter on the ground. Later we started stuffing sacks with plants, wool and hair to make primitive mattresses and for the poor it remained like this until relatively recently.

The rich could of course afford expensive fabrics and comfortable fillings. However the advent of pocket spring mattresses a hundred or so years ago meant that for the first time comfortable, supportive and hygienic beds were possible for pretty much everyone.

So now when you go into a bed showroom you are faced with a myriad of choices, so what bed do you buy? Well there are a number of studies showing that a ‘comfortable’ bed can actually improve sleep, so what is a ‘comfortable’ bed? Well that is a bit like asking, what is a comfortable pair of shoes?, you will know it when you find it.

The important thing about buying a bed is to get a bed that is comfortable and that provides the right amount of support for you. Therefore you need to spend time testing various beds in order to find the right bed. This does not necessarily mean you have to buy an expensive bed; price is no indicator of comfort. Buying a bed should be about the way your body feels, not the way the bed looks, the price or the advertising.

You cannot use your eyes to judge the comfort of a bed, so you need to make sure that you actually lie down on the bed. If you find a bed that initially feels comfortable then spend at least 10 minutes on it and make sure you check the comfort when you lie in different position.

Remember you are probably going to spend more time in your bed then you will spend anywhere else, so it is probably worth it spending the time, and money to get the right bed for you.