The Bed You Sleep On

The Most Important Spot On Earth

Somewhere in the vastness of the earth’s surface, we each possess a little slice of real estate, about 30 to 40 square feet in area, which we call bed. Nowhere on the face of the globe is there another spot quite like this one little rectangle. At the end of a long, hard day, this is where we go to find warmth and comfort, quiet and seclusion. This is our one true place of sanctuary when all is said and done; our inner refuge against the rude hassles of waking life; the cocoon where we remake ourselves for the next day.

The bed is our home within our home; the center of our truest, most personal selves. It’s where we share intimate moments with our partners — where we shed our complex, worldly identities to experience the simple purity of sleep.

For one-third of everyday of your life, your bed is the most important spot on earth.

But not all beds are created equal. Unfortunately, many of us are spending our nights on beds that fall short of providing the kind of comfort and support that nurtures good sleep and sustains our quality of life.

Making Your Bed and Lying In It

Does it seem like it’s been ages since you’ve had a really good night’s sleep? Do you find yourself tossing and turning, trying in vain to get into a comfortable position? When you roll out of bed in the morning, do you feel stiff and creaky — almost like you’re more worn out than when you went to bed the night before?

If you’ve just about given up on ever getting the kind of deep, replenishing sleep you once took for granted, consider this possibility: The problem might not be with you. It might actually be what you’re sleeping on.

This is an easy thing to overlook. There are an awful lot of us out there who struggle to get good sleep and wonder why. We think maybe we’re just getting older or we’ve got back problems or something — and yet, we’re sleeping on old, out-dated mattresses that have given all they have to give; using flat, worn-out pillows and uninviting sheets and blankets of dubious quality. No wonder we can’t sleep well!

This next series of articles is designed to help fix all that. We’re going to pull the covers off the bed and get down to basics. We want to know how to create a bed that ensures night after night of blissful rest. We’ll start out, just for fun, with a look at the history of the bed and see how it came to be what we know it today. Then we’ll sort through the dizzying choices of mattresses on the market today and give you some tips on how to pick the one that’s right for you. And we’ll look at how to select the perfect pillows and find sheets and blankets that are ultra-comfortable. Finally we’ll show you some inexpensive options for improving the quality of your sleeping surface if you’re not ready to buy a whole new mattress.

You already know what a crucial role your quality of sleep plays in determining your health and sense of well being. But don’t forget what an absolutely critical component the bed you sleep on is to this. This is one area of life where it really pays to spend some effort getting it right.