Be like Golidlocks and make sure your bed is just right!
Perhaps not the most well-liked character in the fairy tales of yesteryear, Goldilocks nevertheless managed to highlight an issue that keeps many of us awake at night, literally.
Just what kind of bed do we need to guarantee a good night’s sleep and get that ‘just right’ feeling?
Tall people the world over struggle the most with this issue.
For them a good night’s sleep often means not having to brace their feet against the head and footboards simultaneously, or be forced to adopt the foetal position, when all they really want is to be a starfish.
Whilst most of us only struggle with what type of mattress to have, hard, soft or somewhere in the middle, many tall people need to consider supersizing their bed frame and mattress to accommodate their size, and allow them to sleep peacefully and naturally, by stretching out as fully as they wish in a nice long bed.
The composition and type of the mattress itself also needs special consideration.
This bed is too small
Image from Twinkle.co.uk
Anyone over a certain weight or height should invest in having the right level of support, so that in addition to avoiding the need to adopt the brace position whilst sleeping, they also avoid the bed of nails scenario. This is caused by an inferior mattress failing to properly distribute weight, thus positioning the would-be sleeper directly on the springs!
Whilst mattress quality varies wildly, they should be changed every 8 or so years to ensure optimal comfort. However cheaper mattresses will struggle to go the distance and are prone to sagging (a leading cause of backpain) particularly when they are not designed to accommodate a larger frame.
What may seem like a relatively minor nightly inconvenience can, over time, become a real problem that has a real impact on overall health and wellbeing, placing unnecessary strain on muscles and joints. Poor quality sleep means we don’t get the rest we really need to repair and recover, which in turn can impact us mentally.
Being forced to sleep in an unnatural position to fit the dimensions of our bed rather than the other way around, can also adversely affect our posture over time.
To use an analogy, you wouldn’t force your feet into shoes that are too small and expect them to stay blister and ache free, so why do that to your body with an ill-fitting bed?
Most of us will have had the experience of waking up with a crick in our neck or feeling a little stiff in the morning, but when this is happening on a daily basis, it is time for a thorough analysis of your sleep needs and that often means a more supportive mattress and plenty of wriggle room!
Perhaps Goldilocks had it right after all?
