The importance of sleep and a good mattress

Sleep ?

What is good sleep?

“a condition of body and mind that typically occurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness is practically suspended”.

As far as I am concerned, sleep is supposed to be a wonderful experience in a place where your body is able to relax and your ‘contours’ are looked after and supported. A great bed ‘has got you!’

Those that know me, know that I think the top 3 things (other than the building you live in) that you should spend money on is a great bed, amazing shoes and eyewear - gotta look after those eyes!. All are important things for our comfort and health. Have you ever acknowledged how you feel if your feet are uncomfortable or you sleep quality is poor? Your stress levels go up! A wonderful bed ideally should come high on your list.

There are many sleep statistics, but on average, the average person spends around 26 years of THEIR life sleeping. That is about a third of our lives!! Flip……!! And ……the average person also spends 7 years trying to drop off to sleep!!! Yikes. A major factor that will determine how well you sleep will be your comfort. If you are unable to get comfortable in your bed, the quality of your sleep will be poor and you may wake throughout the night. This doesn’t adhere to the definition of consciousness suspended. YOU know when you don’t sleep well.

Many patients we see at the clinic have mattresses that are VERY old, and many will just be unsupportive and sagging in the wrong places. An old mattress will also not be hygienic.

January sales will be upon us very soon. They may even start before Christmas!! Mattresses and beds can have various offers throughout the year… not just in January. So if you look at your bed and feel that it is actually about time to change it, be armed with as much information as you can be to make your purchase a success. It is also good to be aware of the return policies and T&Cs if you get your new purchase home and you are not happy. Some companies will only offer an exchange rather than return your money. So beware.

I actually think it is pretty tough to tell anyone what bed would be right for them for many reasons. They may have a partner of different size and weight. The may run ‘hot’ at night and so need a bed with more ventilation. They may have pets sleeping with them or children who join them at night. They may just just prefer a harder of softer bed. Ideally, I think you should be able to try the bed/mattress before you take the plunge. If you do buy online, make sure you can get a full refund if you don’t like it. And that you are not slapped with high costs if you need to return it.

‘Which?’ magazine has recently done another one of their great ‘test labs’ for mattresses. These reviews have been a great resource for many for nearly 50 years and they put each mattress tested through a battery of tests, looking at body support including how well it will look after you in each of the different ways many of us sleep. They test the durability of each one and they don’t just look at the expensive mattresses. What a great resource!!!

I am unable to give you all of their results. But the ones that come top of their reviews are:

Eve - The Original Hybrid

Emma-Premium

Emma - Start Hybrid

Memory Foam Warehouse - Coolmax Hybrid

Otty - Hybrid Mattress

And even Ikea Hamarvik came 6th in the list.

Interestingly , they do have a few VERY expensive ones in their tests and while they are good mattresses, they do not score near the top of their reviews.

Note that ALL of them (other than Ikea’s) are ‘hybrids’, meaning that they have a mix of foam and pocket springs. Having some sort of ’springs’ in the mattress does make it easier to turn. Don’t fall for promises of great memory foam that is cheap. In my opinion, cheap memory foam breaks down pretty quickly, leaving you with problems.

So… if you feel that you may need a change of bed or mattress, go to a good bed shop and lie on loads of different beds. Be prepared to spend a bit of time to get a feel for different beds. If you are buying just a new mattress, make sure you try the mattress on the same type of bed base that you already have at home.

If you have pain at night that is not going away or in-fact, getting worse maybe sure you see a health professional to determine WHY are in pain at night. Don’t just leave it.

This is also a useful link on How to Choose a Mattress from The Sleep Foundation.

We have an amazing team of Osteopaths and we also have a great massage therapist and reflexologist.

Call us on 020 8605 2323 if we can help.

Blog post by James Dodd