How America’s Sleep Habits Have Changed

(AKA How To Get The Best Mattress That’s Exactly Right For You)

In the past three decades there has been a major shift in how consumers decide on the “right” mattress. For most of the latter half of the 1900’s, the primary mattress of choice was the “Innerspring” mattress with its core being wire springs topped by various materials.  Foam and cotton were two of the usual toppers over the innerspring. Then this combination was covered with fabric known as a ticking.

In the early 1970’s a revolution began to change the way we sleep today. The first step in this process was the introduction of the waterbed. The initial waterbeds were rudimentary. They consisted primarily of bags of water that were placed on the floor… an interesting novelty but not a serious sleep product. This was not the end of the waterbed story. A number of entrepreneurs saw an opportunity and the water bed was refined. It was raised off the floor and placed in a wood frame that supported it. A safety liner was added as well as temperature control. The waterbed consumer also liked the fact that the firmness of the waterbed could be adjusted by the amount of water that was placed in the bed. The waterbed’s 100% even support and temperature control (warm in winter and cool in the summer), resulted in the once counter-culture item becoming a therapeutic sleep product popular with all ages.

Subsequently, the “Softside” waterbed was developed which eliminated the wood frame and encased the waterbed mattress inside of foam rails and covered it with a standard mattress ticking. The softside waterbed looked like a regular (innerspring) mattress and was more acceptable to a wider group of consumers than the wood framed waterbed, which for the most part has faded from the market.  Softside waterbeds continue to be the bed of choice for many people due to their even support and temperature control. Although many retail stores no longer carry softside waterbeds, a  large assortment is available from Internet retailers.

Waterbeds accounted for approximately 15-20% of bedding sales at the height of their popularity. What the waterbed did though was to expand the consumer’s thinking as far as sleep product choices and a wide range of “alternative” bed types has now become available.

One of the first new beds to follow the waterbed was the “Air Bed" which features the firmness adjustabilty of the waterbed but not the temperature control. The Air Bed provides dual inner chambers so that one sleeping partner does not disturb the other. A wide range of specialty stores sell Air Beds as well as a large number of Internet retailers.

The Air Bed is basically constructed with air mattresses inside of a foam shell which is then covered with a mattress ticking. A pump regulates the amount of air in the mattress and allows the consumer to adjust the firmness by the amount of air that is placed or removed from the mattress.  One of the manufacturers of this type of bed terms it “The Sleep Number” bed and it is heavily marketed on television and other media. Air Beds are available in a wide range of prices so it’s important that the consumer shops carefully to get the best value possible.

Following the Air bed was the introduction of the Visco Elastic mattress with the initial marketing done by a company called Tempur-Pedic. This bed is also termed “Memory Foam” and the “Swedish Mattress”. It is comprised of an unusual type of foam with no springs inside. The foam takes the shape of your body and yet provides a good level of firmness.

Like any other mattresses, there are a wide range of “Memory Foam” beds available. Many manufacturers have now combined a layer of Visco Foam with less expensive foams in order to bring the costs down as Visco is a very expensive foam. The consumer should be sure to understand exactly what the composition of the bed is. How much is Visco foam and how much is foam of other types.

Another popular sleep surface is Latex foam. True Latex is a material produced from the sap of the Rubber Tree. It is soft and pliable and many customers believe it provides an excellent night’s sleep. Like the Visco Foam it is a very expensive product and is often combined with layers of other types of foam in order to bring the cost down.

The good news is that with all of these different sleep surface options, the consumer can now find the perfect bed to fit their needs. It is recommended that retail bedding stores be shopped as well as the Internet to find just the right bed at a value price.