Adjustable Beds
A good night sleep is every person's dream. Well, especially of those who cannot sleep well at night. Many people stay awake and keep tossing and turning on the bed. When they get up the next morning their body is deprived of the rest it deserves and therefore they are sleepy and not able to concentrate the whole rest of the day.
It is common to resort to medical treatments for amnesia. However, do not be surprised to know that a comfortable bed plays a major role in fighting amnesia and fatigue.
What makes a bed comfortable?
1. Size:
The bed should be big enough to provide enough space for the person to sleep. That is why, couches and sofas, even though they are soft and plumpy, cannot make the best beds!
2. Firmness:
This is more a factor of the mattress but in some types of beds, there is no box spring and the mattress is supported on a knitted bands or wooden slats. With time, these lose firmness and the weight of the body makes the mattress form a valley which may not be apparent or experienced unless one hops on to the bed. The bed should provide a firm base for a mattress, which can then be chosen to be soft or hard as per one's preferences.
3. Adjust ability:
This is the most important factor of bed that aids in the maximum possible rest. No wonder, the hospital beds, are designed to be adjustable and allow the patient to rest with the head raised up or the feet raised up or just the knees raised up. Some people need to sleep on a sloping bed such that their head is always kept up to prevent acids from the stomach to reach back into the esophagus, or for other such medical reasons.
This most important ability to change shape, that is found in adjustable beds, is always ignored in the beds we normally use at home every night. Most often, its not the use of an expensive mattress that helps better sleep, but just the angle of the bed slope may be enough for a good night sleep.
Advantages of an adjustable bed:
1. Allows comfortable bed positions:
One can have multiple adjustments as per ones preference on an adjustable bed. If you need to sit and read, you can raise the upper part of the bed to provide support to your back and shoulders. If you would like to relax with your legs raised up, you can have the lower part of the bed raised up to the level you find most comforting.
If need be, you can have both the upper and the lower sections raised up with a small part in the middle as flat. This can give you a lying position something similar to what you would have while swinging in a hammock.
Apart from mere comfort, adjustable beds help to tend to the sick better. Adjustments make it easier for the the old to simply get off the bed or to get up and take medicine, for example.
A note of caution however is that one should have a proper mattress on an adjustable bed, else the different positions of the bed would crumple the mattress or give it an undesirable shape that would cause more harm than providing comfort.
2. Mitigates or eliminates back pains:
Maintaining proper body posture helps prevent back pains. If your bed provides you the maximum support to all parts of the vertebral column, it can drastically help to reduce or eliminate back pains.
3. Provide a restful night's sleep:
A restful night's sleep wakes you up rejuvenated and full of energy. It helps to concentrate on what you are doing and avoiding accidents.
4. Less need of sleep medications:
When you get proper sleep every night, you would not need any sleep medication and would never become addicted to sleeping pills.
5. Eliminate impact of amnesia on health:
The condition of chronic sleeplessness is called insomnia. Since we do not change beds everyday, it might be a long time before one even realizes that it is the bed causing sleeplessness every night by when the amnesia sets in.
Lack of sleep is harmful for the health of the heart. It can also cause diabetes and obesity.
Therefore, having a bed that provides the best sleep is very important in ones life. After all, almost one third of our lives is spent on the beds!
What to look for when buying an adjustable bed?
1. Look for what kind of adjust ability you need the most. Unless, one is a senior citizen, it may not be necessary to buy a hospital bed that allows maximum adjustable features. Senior people have several other ailments like arthritis or chronic back pains or other medical conditions that need constant adjustment in the bed settings.
If you have acid reflux problems, like I do, you might simply want a bed that keeps your head a little above the rest of the body all night. You would not like the one that bends from the middle to raise your head up since it is not a good sleeping posture, though it might be a good sitting and reading position. A bed that can slant and provide a few degrees of slope from head to the toes is the best one for you.
I have seen people who get swollen feet due to some medical conditions, are advised to keep their legs up to facilitate better circulation of blood in them. Additionally, people with restless legs syndrome, often find comfort when they sleep with their legs raised up. These people would need to have at least legs area of the bed to be adjustable.