Sleep Foundation
Choosing a Mattress
Choosing a mattress for you is critical to combating the affects of insomnia, chronic fatigue and your overall well being. To start let’s take a short overview of the 2 largest categories of mattresses and start the search for your perfect sleep foundation.
Innerspring based mattresses was one of the first focused modern-designed mattress invented to replace the use of whatever you could dig up in the barn and stuff in between two blankets. Back in those days the terms insomnia and fatigue were more a reflection of you not attending church often enough as opposed to finding the right place to lay you head at night. First developed back in the late 1870’s by inventor Heinrich Westphal in Germany… mattresses using innerspring designs (precursors to todays modern inner-coil spring mattress designs) were inspired by those seats installed on horse drawn wagons to minimize the bumps of traveling on dirt roads for days and days. However, the wide spread use of these inner-coil based design for mattresses didn’t catch on for many decades after it was first introduced by Heirich. But, hey it certainly beat out the use of hay, horse hair and palm leaves being used as a stuffing in previous attempts at making a soft platform to lay your head at night.
Foam mattresses use polyurethane materials, these foam type mattresses (also refereed to as memory foam) were and are popular for their ability to conform to various body types . Developed for NASA back in the 1970’s, foam based cushions were popular because of their ability to reduce pressure points on your body. Lets be honest there are a lot of body types out there (yes I dated a lot in college…eek) , and conventional early mattresses (constructed around spring and coil design) were not always the best choice to fit everyone’e needs. A few draw backs early on with these foam based mattresses were the gasses/smells that they would emit. In many cases it would take a few days for these smells to dissipate, but in some cases those pesky gases didn’t go ever away. The other issue with this new fangled material was its characteristic to retain heat. For some that might have been a plus…but when your buried under heavy blankets and in a home with temperature control that extra body heat wasn’t always the best sleeping comfort inducing feature.
Today modern-design features in these still very popular based forms of mattress construction have seen many, many improvements. The original horse and buggy inspired coil and spring mattresses have morphed into softer and more body responsive coiled inner spring technologies. With the use of better manufacturing techniques and materials those old style creeky and spooky steel coils have become every so soft and quieter.
Foam styled mattresses have all but eliminated those alien smells and possibly toxic gasses with improved and safer materials and manufacturing practices. In fact there’s now an entire line of mattress manufacturers focusing on all natural and organic based mattresses. I think you can eat it in a pinch its so organic… : )
Thankfully issues with insomnia, chronic fatigue and a dozen other causes to poor sleep have become a widely recognized as affecting more people than first suspected and not a direct result of your church going habits, thank God…lol
Foam and inner-coil/spring based designs still account for the majority of modern day mattresses. While we’re still trying to get mankind (oops…person kind…gender neutral, whew!) back on the moon, mattress technology has seen a huge growth in recent years. Hybrid versions of these mattress designs and even the introduction of alien technology in the form of gel based mediums for super comfort have seen their release from the bowels of Area 51 and S4 labs in the deep Nevada desert!
Here at DeadLambChop sleep is our holy grail and certainly one of the most important considerations is where you place your booty and noggin at night. Besides are own unique insights on how to choose a mattress please check out this helpful site at the Better Sleep Council for a breakdown on the history of mattresses as well.
Pillows count too
Pillows, pillows, pillows… where to begin. Its odd…some peeps use several pillows at a time to encase them like a bird in a nest, while others will simply use a rolled up towel carefully positioned under their neck!
Pillows are just as important if not more so in how well you’ll sleep when compared to the mattress itself. With our goal to combat insomnia, chronic fatigue and just waking up tired and not feeling rested the importance of pillows cannot be overestimated. Today the choices of pillows have even more options than mattress construction when it comes to that stuffing that makes up its innards!
Like early day mattresses pillows were encased with whatever felt soft the touch. Hay, animal hair, bird feathers , plant fibers… discarded pecan or buckwheat shells…my particular favorite, lol. Today materials inspired NASA and Alien reengineered technology such as foam, organic latex and gel have seen their way to the interiors of what many of us lay are noodle on at night. Theres a short article on the early history of pillows here…….a short read, promise!
But pillows can and do so much more for us in search of perfect sleep. While the mattress certainly offers the platform of where most of us sleep…pillows offer a way for many of us to customize that “just so..” fit to each of our unique body types. Side sleepers, stomach and back sleepers, and those of us who sleep like a moving clock have the need of that just right pillow to fill In those cracks and crevices.
With back discomfort and that one knee that just can’t find a sweet spot when the rest of your body has settled in for the night, peeps have come to realize pillows count too.
Only you can choose the one/s that will fit you. With all the aforementioned materials, sizes and shapes…pillows play a critical role in helping you fight insomnia, chronic fatigue, poor sleep habits and just achieving a restful night of sleep. So choose carefully : )
Also don’t forget to check out on suggestions on the tools for better sleep page. Besides these mattresses and pillows their other considerations to take into account in order achieve better sleep. We also offer our page on Best Practices in the search to fight insomnia. All of these methods will ultimately get you to sleep a whole lot better before having to rely on either OTC/Prescription medications or worse always waking up feeling worse then when you went to bed!
