Beds and Sleeping Customs

Introduction | Beds | Mattresses | Pillows | Cultures

Introduction

Having a good bed does not only mean lying comfortably, but also is an important investment in your health and your future. You will want an anatomical-friendly bed with a mattress which is neither too soft nor too hard. Generally it is advisable to change mattresses latest after 8-15 years (as they begin to sag or to deform). Try to keep the quality of your mattress constant, by rotating it at least once a year.

Different people use different beds. Many people don't even sleep in beds. Bed preferences may depend on culture, age, and personal taste. Most of this page is based on dominant customs in the U.S. or Switzerland. Nighttime sleep locations may vary from naptime locations. A siesta in a hammock in the back yard can be relaxing, but if you are in the full sun, you will need sunscreen and insect lotion to protect your skin. Sleeping in a recliner in front of the television set while it is still on will not promote quality deep sleep.

Beds- Different beds for different ages

At the beginning of life, infants in some countries sleep in beds designed especially for them, such as bassinets, cradles, or cribs. For these beds, safety is important, so that the infant doesn't fall or get stuck. In some cases, a newborn may sleep in the parents' bed or, temporarily, in a drawer on the floor near the mother's bed for convenience during the night. Sometimes, during the day, babies sleep in a playpen, in a baby carriage (or stroller or pram), or while being carried by the mother in some sort of a pack or sling on the mother's front, side, or back. For babies who go out, some nurseries have "portable cribs" or stacking cribs resembling "bunks."

Often, older toddlers move to a single bed, which may be a smaller size (youth) or a standard size (twin) bed. Some children who share their room enjoy sleeping in bunk beds or in a bed with a trundle that stores under another one during the day. Bunk beds are also used sometimes in camp cabins or in military barracks.

Young girls often prefer a bed with an elegant canopy, a style of bed formerly used by kings and queens.

As teens mature, most choose to redecorate their bedrooms, asserting their own styles. Many will choose a daybed or a larger double bed. The daybed is also useful for those living in a small apartment.

Some college dormitories use "extra-long twins" or single beds with longer mattresses. College students often sleep in dormitories, with two or more students sharing a room, in doubles, triples, or suites, or find roommates to live away from home and to share the expenses of off-campus apartments.

Adults usually choose from larger beds, sized as: double, queen, king, or even California-King.

In many crowded living conditions, including apartments, housing shelters, and more, bunk beds or cots are used to accommodate more people in cost- AND space-saving beds for the smaller or more cramped living spaces. Hotels, inns, motels, and hostels are all places to sleep when people are traveling. They may use cots, or hotel suites may be set up with pull-out sofas, to accommodate on a temporary basis more than the usual number of sleepers for a particular room. Many families in the U.S. have a sleeper sofa, which can be converted, or "opened up" or "pulled out" for company's use for a few nights, then "folded up" and used again as a couch during the day.

Mattresses

Traditional mattresses in the U.S. have been filled with foam, innersprings or coils, or even goose feathers or down. Other special bed systems have been designed which aim for improved comfort or pain relief. Among these are the:

• air mattress - (like the inflatable occasional-use air mattresses used under sleeping bags in camping or inflated for extra company)
• magnetic mattress pad (The MagnetiCo inc. Sleep Pad produces sleeping mattresses with "Natural Permanent Magnetic Fields." This is thought to increase strength and energy and to reduce pain and headaches. (3))
• Select Comfort Sleep air system, a recent, patented sleeping system. [Research is reported showing it reduced discomfort for those with chronic low back pain in hospital studies. The system is designed to "contour to your body, properly support your back and spine, and reduce pressure points." The firmness level in the air system is adjustable by the sleeper, even on each of the two sides for the mattresses built for two people! In two clinical studies, 93% of back pain sufferers reported significant relief from that pain, and over three fourths experienced improved sleep quality,physical functioning, and/or vitality. A Stanford U. professor found that the users of Select Comfort mattress not only fell asleep sooner, but also spent more time in deep sleep and less in light-sleep than they had with a premium innerspring mattress.(1)]
• Tempur-Pedic Mattress- "This mattress uses your body heat to mold gently to your curves ... [giving] support and comfort. In Sleep Center tests, it has been proven to reduce tossing, turning and morning stiffness." (6) Other temperature-adjusting mattresses are also available.
• Waterbed - Waterbeds come in different levels of firmness and wave motion. Check for mattresses that resist stretching and have reinforced corners. One waterbed site reports "Sleepers move more than 80 times a night sleeping on an innerspring mattress, on average this is once every six minutes! This is because pressure pushing back from innerspring beds cause areas of poor circulation where you come in contact with the bed. Since a waterbed provides a more even pressure on your body contour, pressure is much less a problem. Waterbed sleepers move as few times as 8 times during a night." (7)
• Zoned support Mattress- toppers such as "eggshell-crate" style or a "NatureSleep Platinum" patented lumbar support system. [An article by Christine Wolf reports that "the first zone supports your upper neck and head . . . the second zone allows your shoulders to 'sink' to a comfortable level, while the third zone supports your lower back. Your hips and buttocks have room to relax with little or no pressure in the fourth zone, and the fifth raises your upper legs to keep your spine in the neutral position." (2)]

Pillows - At the head of the bed

As with the bed, also the pillow size and stiffness should be to help your spine. Lying on the right pillow should put your head in a position in which it would be, if you were standing. Best results are achieved by a pillow which is slightly stiff, but not too hard.

Even the content of the pillow can influence sleep, especially to people suffering allergies who react negatively to pillows with feathers. In this case it may be a good solution to opt for pillows with synthetic content. These synthetic pillows should be washed frequently along with all bed linens in very hot water in order not only to kill the dust mites. For nasal congestion or for neurally mediated hypotension, you may want your head or the whole head of the bed elevated; for people with poor circulation, with swollen ankles, or for someone who has been on their feet all day, they may want to elevate their legs. Before making any changes to your sleep routine position, it might be helpful to consult with a doctor to ask how it would affect your personal medical / health situation.

The Tempur-Pedic pillow is one brand that "creates instant relief for upper back and neck pain. Anatomically correct shape provides maximum support. Specially treated, dust mite resistant Velour covers," according to their promotional material. (6) There are many different companies that work in attempt to create varieties of bedding for individuals' preferences.

Although it might sound awkward, in some cases of insomnia it might help to orient your bed, so that your head points North when you're sleeping. It is said that by doing so, your blood pressure lowers itself, which results in a better sleep. Some alternative (non-Western) medicine seeks to align the body position with the earth's electromagnetic fields or to place the sleeper's body in a certain position relative to the bedroom doorway itself and/or to the layout of the bedroom and orientation of the house

Sleeping Customs in Various Cultures

Note: These are not necessarily the dominant customs, but varieties represented in a book which shares about children from different lands. (4) There are also interactive links where you can read or submit accounts from our site visitors about sleep customs and bedtime rituals in your culture or family.

• Bedouin - Traditionally nomads, in the winter Bedouins may have separate stone houses for women and for men. During the summer, they sleep in mattresses in open-sided tents made from goat-hair.
• Brazilian - A Child may sleep in a rope hammock which hangs up inside the house. If it gets colder, a sheet may be used for a cover.
• Chinese- Excerpted comments from a U.S. citizen teacher of English to Chinese students and American Baptist missions teacher who lived in mainland China for a few years and in Hong Kong for the past two years. Traditionally, people in China don't use a mattress like ours on their beds. Instead, there is a board covered with a thin padding . . . covered with one colorful sheet . . All of the top bedding is folded up during the day . . . with the pillow on top. In the heat of the summer, a straw or bamboo mat is placed on . . . the floor instead of sleeping on the bed, because the coolest air is at the floor level . . . A lot of Chinese in Hong Kong have western style beds and bedding. (5)
• Indian - In Tamil Nadu, India, a child may sleep in a room with her whole immediate family, while families of relatives sleep in other rooms of their shared house.
• Japanese-The preferred sleeping style is on a traditional futon, a mattress which rests directly on the floor.
• Korean- Children's mattresses may be stored in parents' room or a closet during the daytime. In many places, such as apartments in South Korea and in the U.S., people may stow away mattresses or sleeping materials out of the living quarters during the daytime.
• Filipino [Philippines] - In a village on a smaller island, in a bamboo house, one bedroom sleeps the parents and another is for all of the children to share.
• Mexican families, even if they live in a one room home, set aside separate areas of the room reserved for sleeping.
• Russian - Some Russians will remove bedsheets daily from off of the mattress and bed, then, remake their beds before going to sleep each night.
• Thai [Thailand] - A Thai farmer's son sleeps on a mat with a pillow and blanket. Since he keeps the door open to let cooler air into his hut, in order to keep the mosquitos who fly in from biting him, he uses a mosquito net around his bed.
• Vietnamese - A Northern Vietnamese mother and daughters share a bed and the father shares a bed or room with their sons.

Here is what our visitors have to say about their bedtime rituals and/or sleeping customs. Please submit about your sleeping customs and/or bedtime rituals if they vary from the ones we have listed so far.
What helps you fall asleep at night? What are your culture's bedtime customs for sleeping?

(1) promotional material, including "Sleeping on a Select Comfort Air Bed Relieves Back Pain," from Select Comfort Direct Corporation: 6105 Trenton Lane North, Minneapolis, MN 55442; 1-800-831-1211 ext. 8078

(2) promotional material from Comtrad Industries, 2820 Waterford Lake Dr., Suite 102, Midlothian, VA 23112 , Promotional flyer "6052-15526. Schuck, Judy, and others. " Lower back pain and sleep quality is improved with an adjustable air sleep surface." Sleep: official publication of the American Sleep Disorders Association and the Sleep Research Society, v. 21, 19998, suppl, p. 290.

(3) The Magnetic Story: by MagnetiCo Inc. Sleep Pad. MagnetiCo: Canada, 1998.

(4) Kindersley, Barnabas and Anabel. Children Just Like Me: a unique celebration of children around the world. London, Dorling Kindersley Limited, in association with the United Nations Children's Fund, 1995. 80 p. Countries used: p. 15-16, 30, 44, 52, 54, 58, 62, 66, 68, 70.

(5) Sutterlin, Judith. E-mail correspondence to Emilie Sutterlin, personal correspondence Tuesday 6 April, 1999.

(6) "Tempur-Pedic Mattresses and Pillows." Permission granted from Brookstone, Tysons Corner, VA.

Quotation from, URL: http://www.groovymall.com/groovymall/brookstone.htm

(7) "Waterbeds with heaters are very therapeutic." Quotation from URL: http://abcwaterbed.com/winstallb.htm