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About 10 centuries ago, people found certain materials better than bare ground for sleeping. Leaves, pine needles, animal skins, or whatever else happened to be hanging around were used to provide comfort and warmth.
During the Roman Empire, the wealthy had mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool, or feathers. During this time period the Greeks, Persians, and Romans discovered the benefits of sleeping on water by filling goat skins with water.
During the Renaissance, people covered their mattress stuffing with a coarse ticking, and then used sumptuous materials like velvets, silks, and brocades over the mattresses.
By the 18th century we find the cast iron bed and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted unavoidable in even the most royal beds.
In 1865 a patent was awarded for the first coil spring mattress. This became the idea for the innerspring mattress of the 1930's.
The 1950's brought us foam rubber mattresses and pillows.
Then, in 1969, Charles Hall applied for a patent for the forerunner of today's waterbed mattress. Evolving from a design project he had done for a graduate program when he was a student at San Francisco State University, the first waterbeds were sold out of the back of a van, mostly to hippies, and didn't even have heaters or frames.
Originally associated with this counterculture, serious bed shoppers shied away from them for some time. Improvements in construction during the past 20 years have brought the benefits of sleeping on water to the attention of the general public.
In the 1980's, America had another choice for sleeping with the introduction of the adjustable airbed.
Today's choices offer us unlimited variety for sleeping in comfort. My choice is a waterbed. Hope yours is too.
Benefits of Sleeping on a Waterbed
Aside from the comfort of sleeping on a waterbed, there are many other benefits. The warmth of the waterbed heater, the even support, and for some, the gentle motion of a free flow or semi-waveless waterbed mattress, can have a calming effect, inducing sleep and countering the stress of everyday life.
A waterbed offers total body support, easing body aches. For those that must be confined for long periods to their bed, the water displacement that causes a state of weightlessness also eliminates pressure on the skin reducing the occurrence of bed sores.
For allergy sufferers, a vinyl waterbed bag, properly cared for, is a more sanitary sleeping surface, reducing considerably the population of dust mites found on and in regular mattresses. It is an easy process to wipe down the vinyl surface of a waterbed bag when the bedding is changed.
Back pain sufferers often find the total body support of a waterbed the only comfortable surface they can find for sleeping. Since the spine is relieved of pressure, allowing it to relax, and the soothing warmth relieves sore muscles, those with back pain wake in the morning feeling rested. A waveless mattress with lumbar support is the choice most often made by people with back pain for sleeping on water.
Expectant mothers have told us their waterbed has made sleeping a pleasure again. Backaches are greatly diminished, and the giving surface is perfect for their changing body contours. Many feel their babies are calmer when mom sleeps on a waterbed.
A warm waterbed can improve circulation, bringing relief to rheumatism sufferers and those with poor blood circulation.
Painful arthritic joints can prevent a good night's sleep, but the warmth of a waterbed, along with the low pressure of the waterbed surface can have arthritis sufferers waking up with less morning stiffness and fully rested again.
You owe it to yourself to secure the good night's sleep that is essential to overall good health. A waterbed can provide that good night's sleep. |
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