According to a survey done by www.bettersleep.org, Americans report craving sleep over sex!
The key to this just might be in the mattress. Sudarshan Rai, Marketing Manager, Dubai Furniture Manufacturing Co. helps make sense of the bedding madness with tips on choosing the right mattress for you.
Good health begins with a good night’s sleep. How important is a mattress for getting a restful sleep?
It is understood, that the bed plays an essential role in the quality of sleep. Sleeping on a mattress, which does not fit personal needs and consequently does not give the necessary support to the body for a long time not only lead to sleep disorders but also to various diseases and ailments of the spine.
There are four basic requirements for a good mattress to enhance a healthy sleep. In order of importance: Maintain Spinal Alignment, Reducing Surface Pressure, Regulating Body Temperature, and Resist Nasty Allergens.
Maintaining Spinal Alignment: Mattresses and bed bases that do not support your spine produce backaches. The ideal position of your spine while lying is the same as it is while standing. A mattress that is too hard will tend to put pressure on your shoulders and hips while not supporting your lower back or side. Soft mattresses often sag, causing your spine to follow the curve of the mattress. Only a mattress that can conform to your body without sagging will give adequate support. This support should be felt evenly along the length of your body, especially at your waist and lower back.
Reducing Surface Pressure: High pressure on your shoulders and hips causes tossing and turning because it restricts blood flow and eventually will cause these joints to ache. A mattress that conforms to the shape of your body will distribute your weight evenly and eliminate high-pressure areas. This will allow your body to relax and reach the deeper levels of sleep, which ensure the highest level of body recovery. This pressure can be measured scientifically to assure proper circulation. One can also test this by lying on the side and feeling the pressure on shoulders and hips.
Regulating Body Temperature: Sleeping too hot or too cold will also cause tossing and turning. While we sleep, our bodies give off moisture, which gets trapped in our bedding. This dampness interferes with our body’s ability to regulate its own temperature. The best cure for this is wool, either as the top layer of the mattress or in a separate mattress pad. Wool can absorb up to one-third of its weight in moisture without feeling damp. It also dissipates moisture much faster than down, cotton, or polyester. Since you are drier, you are warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Your heart beat actually slows down, and you fall into a deeper sleep.
Reduce Harmful Allergens: Waking up with sinus troubles in the morning may indicate dust mites, mould or mildew causing allergies. Some mattress materials are anti-microbial (such as latex), so that dust mites will not reside in these mattresses as easily as in others and these mattresses offer a certain protection for those who struggle with allergies. The cover of the mattress is also a key to overcome the allergy problem.
When do you know that it is time to get a new mattress?
The general rule is the age of the mattress. Consumer Report magazine recommends replacement every 7 to 10 years. Another thing to consider is what you feel when you wake up. If you get a good night’s sleep you should wake up feeling refreshed and rested but if you find that you are waking up tired and feeling drowsy during the day it may be due to too much tossing and turning throughout the night. Old mattresses tend to gradually lose the ability to provide proper support and once the comfort zone has matted down you will get pressure points by sleeping directly on the springs. Try to inspect the bed if there are signs of sagging or body impression or if there is noticeable sagging but you feel like you are sagging into the mattress, it is probably due to the softening of the core in your memory foam or full foam mattress.
What are the different kinds of mattresses available?
Environment-friendly initiatives have been one noticeable trend in the industry. At King Koil, we maintain strict standards in this regard. One such effort by us in this direction is the use of MEGA FOAM or GREEN FOAM as raw material for the manufacture of mattresses. DFMC is the only company in the Middle East that uses eco-friendly foam manufacturing techniques for its King Koil mattress. There are different types of foam available in the market today and during the manufacturing process of these types of foam, harmful agents are released into the atmosphere which affects the Ozone layer. At King Koil, we use German technology and manufacture Mega Foam or Green Foam by avoiding the use of Methylene Chloride which is an Ozone depleting substance which nullifies deleterious effects on the environment.
How do you decide on the right mattress for you?
There are 3 main attributes of a mattress i.e. Support, comfort, and feel. First and foremost, we ensure that our mattresses satisfy these 3 parameters, and then aesthetic features are considered. Our objective is to make the mattress look inviting, for which we use beautiful mattress ticking with eye catchy quilting designs. Matching border ticking and tape edge is used to give a final finish to the product.
What should you know before buying a mattress?
Mattress is the most used furniture in one’s house, therefore, maintaining it properly is of utmost importance. Mattresses are vulnerable to dust, dirt, bugs, mite etc, which can cause allergy, asthma, sneezing etc. therefore it’s important is check the mattress periodically. Mattresses are ideal breeding grounds for house dust mites and that is why concentrations of mites are generally higher in mattresses. Some mattress materials are antimicrobial (such as latex and memory foam), so that dust mites will not reside in these mattresses as easily as in others and these mattresses offer a certain protection. Control of dust mite pollution is probably best achieved by an integral approach combining enclosure of the mattress in an exclusive cover, cleaning (with a vacuum cleaner).
Do the positions we sleep in affect the mattress we use or vice versa?
Not really, however sleeping regularly in the same position and place might cause body impressions and therefore in order to avoid the same we recommend flipping and rotating the mattresses periodically as prescribed on the mattress in case it’s a double sided mattress or rotate periodically in case it’s a turn free mattress.
Conversely, while making a new mattress purchase knowing one’s sleep position is important to understand the comfort preferences.
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Sudarshan Rai, Marketing Manager, Dubai Furniture Manufacturing Co.