One might think that beds are purely functional. After all, we are unconscious for most of the time we are using them. However, over time they have been, and still are, status symbols of the highest importance. They are or can be also one of the most expensive items of household furniture that we buy. A trip to a furniture store unfolds a dazzling array of these things we hardly ever really see. The price ranges are enormous and the variety astounding.

Let’s look at how beds have evolved and changed over the years.

In pre-history, beds were very rudimentary affairs. Maybe a pit was dug and grass and hay thrown in with a goatskin on top for a bit of added comfort. This lasted for a very long time, and it was not until the renaissance period that beds started to be thought of differently. The people of this era were much more ostentatious in their outlook and status was becoming very important to the wealthy families of Italy and France particularly. The idea of this kind of status also permeated into Great Britain. A look at the contents of the bedrooms of some of the grandest houses in the UK demonstrates this almost obsession with grandeur and decoration. Baroque and rococo bedrooms had huge four poster bed in them. So, not only had the bed risen off the floor, it now also had walls.

Photo source: http://www.peckfortoncastle.co.uk/assets/uploads/images/CWP%20new%20rooms005.jpg

Photo source: https://www.theritzlondon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/royal-suite.jpg

For the sleeper, the most important part of a bed is the mattress. Not only did raising the bed off the floor eliminate pests and vermin, it also provided a decent platform for a new innovation, the mattress.

The first mattresses were usually made of hay or some other suitable organic material. They progressed into being cotton stuffed and then to being stuffed with feathers. These beds were, however not as comfortable as some would wish and a great deal scientific inventiveness went into the design of mattresses.

There were two breakthroughs roughly one hundred years apart. There is discussion about the geographical origin of the first but there is no doubt about its roots. In the late nineteenth century, a German engineer produced the first car. Of that, there is no doubt. That car needed to have a smooth ride. Somebody invented coil springs in order to achieve this. The original leaf springs did not suit the rich people who owned cars.

Thankfully we have some very comfortable mattresses today as a result in the evolution of technology and peoples love of sleep and comfort, here are a few from our selection:

https://www.homesdirect365.co.uk/grand-mattress-p39598

Sleepzone® springs, providing almost twice the support of bonnell units

Traditionally tufted pillowtop for superlative comfort Multiple fillings

Damask top

Vertical white damask border No turn – rotate regularly

Mattress depth: 30cm

Handles: 4

Vents: 2

https://www.homesdirect365.co.uk/pearl-memory-support-sealy-mattress-p40253

Comfort Rating: Medium / Firm

Sealy PostureTech 620 spring system

Memory foam comfort layer

Correctly supports and aligns the spine in its natural shape, helping to reduce aches and pains

Eco-friendly Tencel fibres help keep you cool and dry

What does this have to do with sleep? Somebody realised that a whole bunch of coil springs spread flat with a nice cotton covering to keep the springs away from the body would be a really great surface to sleep on. The coil spring mattress was born.

The second breakthrough was also, possibly, a result automotive engineering. One of the properties of a liquid is that it cannot be compressed. This idea was used in hydraulic dampers for car suspension systems. It is also used for the transmission of power. Somebody filled a very large bag with water and sat on. The water did not compress, it cannot, so it moved aside. This somebody felt that sleeping on such a hydraulic platform might be very comfortable. So, roughly one hundred years after metal springs to sleep on, we have hydraulic dampers. Hail the waterbed.

Still, science has not finished with sleeping innovation. NASA, the USA space agency, also got into the act. They needed to keep their astronauts comfortable whilst weightless. The result of this need was, yes, memory foam. This product is now widely used and readily available. Who says the space program is a waste of money.

You can view a timeline of mattresses over history from humble straw to NASA (memory foam) in this following article: