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Are all beds created equal?

Beds.
There are water beds, beds with memory foam, spring, coils and latex.
There are beds made with all-natural fibers. Beds that adjust, beds that heat and cool. Beds with sleep numbers.
There are beds that cost hundreds of dollars and beds that cost thousands.
All promise the same result — a good night’s sleep.
But can a bed really make a difference?
“I don’t think so,” said Carol McFarland, a physical therapist in Texas. She said beds are more hype than help. “It’s not mattress, it’s all the other stuff,” that keeps us awake at night, she said. Things like bills, job stress, lack of exercise.But that’s another story.
This story is about beds, or more specifically, mattresses. And according to the Better Sleep Council mattresses are big business.
Over the past six years, the market value of the wholesale mattress industry increased nearly 40% from $4.6 billion in 2000 to $6.4 billion in 2005. Additionally, more people are willing to spend more money on mattresses than ever before. The number of premium mattresses costing $1,000 or more increased by nearly 7% from 2001 to 2005, according to the Better Sleep Council.
“Clearly there is a growing market for higher priced beds,” said Nancy L. Shark, executive director for the Council, which is the consumer education arm of the International Sleep Products Association trade group.
“You’ve got the Baby Boomer market that has the financial resources and an interest in improving their quality of life and good health,” she said. “They can afford a better bed and there is a clear link between the quality of a bed and the quality of life.”
STUDY: NEW BED=BETTER SLEEP
Shark pointed to a study conducted by Oklahoma State University and published in the winter 2006 issue of the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. The study attributes significant improvements in back discomfort, sleep comfort and quality to sleeping on a new medium-firm mattress. The ISPA endorsed the study as proof of a “critical link” between mattress quality and quality of sleep.
According to ISPA chair Kerry Tramel, “there is now definitive research that underscores the health benefits of sleeping on new bedding systems.”
In the study, test subjects were questioned before and after sleeping on new medium-firm mattresses — essentially the Goldilocks of beds, one that’s not too soft and not too firm.
According to the study, test subjects noted “significant improvements in back discomfort and stiffness and overall sleep quality” after sleeping on the new medium-firm mattress.
The study did not address the difference between high and low quality beds nor did it examine the differences of beds in different price ranges with different fillings and components. All the beds were the same: new and medium-firm.
Other older research seems to contradict the latest study. One found a placebo-effect after subjects were introduced to a new bed. Another showed test subjects’ perception of sleep increased with the cost of the bed.
HIGHER PRICE, BETTER SLEEP?
So what does all of this mean?
Ultimately, it means you should sleep on a relatively new medium firm mattress.
Which brings us back to the original problem. Which one? There are hundreds of mattresses available in varying price ranges all promising a good night sleep free of back pain and worry.
On the expensive end, there’s Hypnos, which sells beds made from all natural products costing between $8,000 and $20,000.
Hastens, another luxury bed maker, just introduced a new mattresses in April costing more than most cars. At $59,750, the Vividus bed is among the most expensive on the market and features handcrafted wood, silk and cashmere.
On the lower end of the spectrum there’s the Sealy Posture Firm bed which costs about $600 or the Serta Ortho 100 which costs $50 less.
“Is a particular bed universally superior to any other? The answer is probably not,” said Dr. James Stocks, a pulmonologist at the University of Texas Medical Center. “A lot of what goes for personal preference is cultural,” he said.
Stocks noted that most Japanese don’t use complex bedding systems and report no higher incidence of loss of sleep or back pain. In underdeveloped nations, people sleep on wooden pallets or mattresses stuffed with leaves or straw.
“I don’t think that there’s any evidence that one type of bed causes back problems or back complaints,” Stocks said. “I think that your overall health is much more important as to whether your back hurts or not as opposed to what type of bed you buy”If you are tired enough, it’s surprising how little difference it makes to you.”
That said, Stocks acknowledged that “we don’t tend to sleep well on mattresses or bedding systems different than we are used to. Changes in environment are poorly tolerated.”
IT’S NOT THE BED. IT’S US
So why are people shelling out big bucks for a bed?
“People are willing to do that because they are so desperate for a good night’s sleep. They are desperate because they have tended to shortchange themselves the time allowed for good habits,” Stocks said.
McFarland said she downplays the need to buy a new mattress when clients come to her blaming their beds for their back pain.
“It’s the quick fix. We want to fix the bed not ourselves. It’s much easier to buy a bed than to work on strength, balance and flexibility,” she said.
“When people are having back problems and they think the bed is the answer, they are going to be disappointed. Most people don’t get a new bed and say “Oh, my back problems are gone.’”
Ultimately, getting a good night’s sleep for most of us seems to go back to the advice our mothers gave us or should have given us.
Don’t drink to much coffee or alcohol. Get regular exercise. Have a regular routine. Learn to relax. Eat well. And, oh, only use the bed for its intended purpose.
“There are only two legitimate purposes for a bed,” according to Stocks. “Sleep and sex. Or maybe a third, if you rest your elbows on the bed when you are saying your prayers.”
Bedtime is meant to be a time to unwind and sleep, he said. Beds should not be used as recliners, to play games on or to eat on, Stocks said. “If you’re watching TV in bed or spending lengthy amounts of time in bed apart from deliberately going to sleep, then that is considered inappropriate from a behavioral perspective,” he said.
“When we allow the bed to be associated with other activities, we don’t get the right Pavlov response. If we limit the bedroom environment only for the purposes of sleep or sex, then when we do go to bed, the body responds from an expected behavioral perspective,” Stocks said.
In other words our bodies can be conditioned to equate bed with sleep.
“It has nothing,” he said, “to do with the bed itself.”
Written by Dorren Robinson, Content Director for www.ISleptGreat.com.
Dorren’s days are spent playing many roles – journalist, professor, wife, and mother.
She is keenly aware of how elusive great sleep can be.

Original content created for Isleptgreat.com
Carol McFarland, PT, MS, OCS, a pysical therapist in Tyler, Texas
Better Sleep Council
www.bettersleep.org
Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, Winter 2006
Dr. Jim Stocks, pulmonologist and sleep expert at the Unviersity of Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Texas.
http://www.uthct.edu/resources/directory/profile.asp?id=74
International Sleep Products Association
www.sleepproducts.org