If you are anything like me, a lack of sleep or a bad night's sleep can literally ruin an otherwise productive day!
I recall years ago tossing and turning throughout the night and waking up with a stiff neck or an achy, stiff shoulder. A lack of good sleep and a sore body! What a lovely way to start the day, right?
I say that I recall these things "years ago" because that is literally how long it has been since I've suffered with such an experience. For years now, I have slept on the world's best memory foam mattress and I can tell you that I will never own a metal spring mattress again, for the rest of my life!
It turns out that the metal spring mattress is an "ancient" invention at this point in our modern history. It causes pressure points. Simple theory to understand, really. No matter what you do with your body, while you are on a metal inner spring mattress, there are individual metal springs designed and built to press against your body. Because the springs aren't smart enough to know where your body's contours and curvatures are, or where you may have sensitive spots, they press equally hard against all areas of your body, thus creating "pressure points" which can cut off circulation, causing aches and pains, tossing and turning.
High quality memory foam is able to completely support your body while you sleep, while relieving pressure points. The foam is pressure and heat reactive, supporting you where you need support, yet backing off where you would otherwise have "pressure points" on an inner spring mattress. With no pressure points and no impedance of circulation, you sleep soundly and deeply throughout the night.
Here's the best part of all: my quality of sleep is so significantly improved that if I only get 6 hours of sleep (because I'm up late screwing around on Active Rain...which never, ever really happens), I literally feel like I got 7 or 8 hours of sleep!
In addition to the awesome bed I sleep on, I have high quality memory foam pillows which allow my head and neck to maintain perfect alignment with my spine, while eliminating any pressure points, thus ensuring my heavenly night's sleep!
The biggest challenge I have is when I sleep over at my sister's or my mom's in Tryon, NC. They've both got the world's most uncomfortable metal spring mattresses. My only savior is the fact that I bring along my memory foam pillow. Also, the occasional sleep at a hotel can be a shock to my system. Not always, but often enough to make me miss my bed at home!
All memory foam is NOT created equal! The best foam on the market has a foam density of approximately 5.3 LBs. The cheap stuff is down in the 3 and 4 LB densities and not worth the investment! If you get into the 6 LB densities, it can negatively affect the foam's "behavior" and bounce-back time. When you push your fist into the memory foam and pull it away, a simple test is to feel the quality of the foam and observe the behavior of the foam's bounce-back time. You should be able to count "one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand" and the foam should have returned to its original shape. Anything faster than that and it is more than likely a cheaper batch of foam with a lower foam density. Anything longer than that and it could be a "bad batch" of foam that was not formulated properly. If it takes you up to "six-one thousand, seven-one thousand" before the foam returns to its original shape...you've got a bad formulation in the foam that will leave a huge "sink hole" in the bed when you decide to roll over, at least for about 7 to 10 seconds, anyway. Keep in mind this is a non-scientific, fun way to gain a general idea of the quality of memory foam. Please don't take this test too literally!
Another property of memory foam to be aware of is the fact that is temperature reactive. Thus, if you keep a freezing cold home, you might have a rather dense & hard memory foam bed until your body heat warms up the foam. If this is the case, I suggest an electric blanket on your bed, set it to a very low setting about 10 to 15 minutes before you plan on jumping into bed.
Being a Realtor can mean having a hectic schedule and working late in our home-offices. We can also suffer a little stress every now and then. A very good, sound, deep night's sleep is so valuable, I can't even express it properly in this blog! Like I said, I will never, and I mean never, go back to sleeping on metal springs!
The make and model I happen to sleep on is called a Dormia "Ultimate". Dormia makes the bed, and the "Ultimate" is the model. Although, they make many different models, depending on your budget and if you like a softer feel or a more firm feel.
My Ultimate model has additional special features beyond the memory foam, such as a lamb's wool pillow top, latex foam contour support underneath the memory foam, and a perimeter edge support system. The lamb's wool pillow top adds comfort as well as dissipates heat outward from your body, so there is no chance of body heat getting trapped. I never sleep hot or wake up sweaty. I found Dormia to have the highest quality components and memory foam, as well as the most innovative features and designs, and competitive price points. The other national name brand makes good quality memory foam but they can be very expensive and they lack innovation and creativity in their model line up.
I've even got something called a Protect-A-Bed premium mattress cover on my bed which is a moisture and dust-mite barrier. So, whenever one of my little kiddies sneaks into my bed in the middle of the night and has an accident....no problem! Just wash the Protect-A-Bed cover, which is a simple fitted sheet style cover.
I get so many questions from friends and family about the whole memory foam bed topic I figured I should just preach the gospel of my good night's sleep in a blog for everyone to read about!
For your "visual enjoyment", I was able to copy an image of the bed I sleep on from the manufacturer's website.
Here's the tip of the week: a company called Body Relaxer offers a discount to Realtors on memory foam mattresses and pillows. They can be found at: www.bodyrelaxer.com
So, per the title of this blog post...what do you sleep on? And...how's it working out for you?
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