THE MATTRESS

How comfortable you are in bed affects the quality of your sleep- and ultimately the quality of your life. The mattress and the foundation should be the best that you can afford.

DETERMINING HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT MATTRESS: The Better Sleep Council has an ABCs checklist to follow: Age: Studies show that a mattress and foundation provide optimum service for about eight to ten years of nightly use. After one decade, a mattress no longer offers the comfort and support you need for a good night's sleep. Beauty: The next time you change your sheets, take a critical look at your mattress. Would you be embarrassed to how your mattress without covers to your friends? Look for soils, stains, or tears in the cover, and uneven surfaces and sagging spots around the edges or where you usually lie. Poor appearance is indicative of poor performance. Comfort: Lie down and concentrate on the feel of your mattress. When you sleep the same bed each night, you become desensitized to its dwindling comfort and support. If you find it difficult to gauge your mattress's comfort, visit a local bedding or department store to see how a new, good-quality bed feels.

SLEEP TRIVIA In 1969, the fakir Silki claimed to have spent 111 days on a bed of nails in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The late eighteenth century saw the advent of cast-iron bedsteads and cotton mattresses. This made sleeping spaces less attractive to bugs, hitherto an accepted problem. The expression "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" has a basis in fact. The Christofle bed, made of solid silver, was built for a maharajah in 1882. At each of its corners was a life-size painted statue of a naked woman, holding a fan. When the maharajah lay down, his weight would start a music box in the mattresses and the statue would wave their fans. The bed weighed over a ton.

The Mattress and It's Foundation A mattress and foundation, or boxspring, are engineered to work together as a sleep set. Like a giant shock absorber, your foundation takes a lot of nightly wear and tear and contributes to the bed's overall comfort and ability to support your body. An old foundation will greatly reduce the life of your new mattress.

DID YOU KNOW... Charlemagne had a bronze tubular bedstead that forced him to sleep at a 45 degree angle; this defensive sleeping position was common throughout the Middle Ages

Selecting a Mattress

1) Pretend the Mattress Is in Your Bedroom: Do not make the common mistake of selecting a bed without lying on it first. Simply sitting on a mattress or pushing on its surface with your hand will not tell you how it's going to feel to your weary body at bedtime. "Test-drive" any mattress you are considering.

2) Look "Under the Hood." What's inside the mattress counts. So ask about the mattresses construction. On the outside, look for signs of quality: fine tailoring, superior fabrics, and a surface that looks and feels plush. Today's better quality mattresses feature extra layers of luxurious cushioning for comfort. A Word About Coils Make sure that the following sizes have at least: King size= 450 coils Queen size= 375 coils Double/ Full size= 300 coils If You Choose Foam... Make sure that the minimum density is 2.0 pounds per cubic foot. The higher the number the better the foam.

3) Go for the Rolls-Royce. You may have your eye on that sexy two seater Italian sports car, but when it comes to beds, bigger is always better for sleeping comfort. A bed should be six inches longer than the sleeper.

4)How Much Should You Spend? Buy the best that you can afford. Your bed is an investment that should last longer than your car, and you will be spending more time in bed than behind the wheel in the next decade.

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