Mattress Types

Ever since the first people threw down pine boughs to provide a base for blankets on which to sleep, mattresses of some sort have been used by virtually all of humanity. Even chimpanzees create nests of leaves, branches in order to get a good night's rest.

Pine boughs might not seem very comfortable, but when piled carefully, they act as the same sort of cushion as an inner-spring mattress (metal springs wouldn't sound so comfortable either, if you didn't already know better). However, the main problem with pine bough beds is that they are only comfortable as long as the boughs are green. Once they dried out, pine boughs beds were discarded. Obviously, this process of rebuilding a mattress every few days would have been labor and pine-bough intensive, necessitating something more comfortable over the long-term.

Sacks filled with straw were used by poor people, but these most likely played havoc with allergies, while not being completely comfortable. Feather beds, used by the rich, were much more comfortable, and less troublesome for allergies, but were prohibitively expensive for most people. Other fillings included wool, cotton, horsehair, coconut fibers and other natural materials. These beds were probably relatively comfortable, but were also regularly infested with various insects and other vermin. Even royalty weren't immune from this.

Waterbeds were also used periodically throughout history. Introduced in Persia in 3500 B.C. waterbeds have existed alongside stuffed mattresses and have seen limited success. Waterbeds did not really take off until the 1960s when they began to be made from vinyl. Even since the 1960s, waterbeds have not seen as much use as other types of mattresses.

In 1865, inner-spring mattresses were invented, changing the course of sleeping forever. The elimination of natural filling meant the elimination of many of the bugs and animals that had infested beds since their initial invention. Eventually these systems of springs became more complicated and comfortable as manufacturers covered them with fabric and layers of memory foam.

In the early 20th century foam rubber began to be used exclusively in mattress construction, instead of simply as a supplement or mattress topper. Latex is an ideal mattress material, as it conforms to the shape of the body, but at the same time provides support to eliminate back and neck problems. Latex mattresses are also highly customizable, and can adjusted to fit the firmness preferences even post production.

A typical latex mattress is comprised of six mini-mattresses or cells. They are stacked, so that each partner is sleeping on three layers of foam. Therefore, if two people have different preferences in terms of firmness, the mattress can be adjusted so that one side is softer than the other. In this way, the mattress is essentially two, bonded together. In addition, the removable nature of the cells means that if something goes wrong with part of the mattress, or if the sleepers decide that they prefer a different firmness, the cells can be switched out, and replaced with cells that are perfect for the sleepers' needs.