Beds that are not beds!

The term bed is often used for something that may not necessarily mean what we normally expect it to mean.

Most dictionaries describe a bed as an item of furniture on which we lie down with a view to resting or going to sleep. Many go one step further and add that it has a mattress, usually made with springs or foam, and that it is rectangular and comes in single or double bed formats.

This is of course the normal description and expectation of a bed, however there are a couple of other items of furniture that also take the name, but which do not really fit the definition given above.

The first is the sun longer or garden sun bed. This is used for relaxation, but most people think of it as a way of getting a sun tan on a sunny day and not a means of going to sleep or resting. Sun loungers come in different forms, but all are used in the same way and with the same “browning the skin” objective.

The other type of bed, also concerned with the sun, is the sunbed.

Sunbeds are not really beds at all and the sole function of this type of bed is the tanning of the skin.

Quite how the sunbed got its name is open to speculation, but the fact that you lay down horizontally on it is the most probable explanation.

Moving away from any kind of bed that a person uses you do of course have the flower bed. This however is a bed of a very different nature, but the term is still extended and derived to describe the flowers that are planted in it – namely “bedding plants”. Indeed you even “bed in” the bedding plants when planting them!

Ultimately, like many terms and expressions, “bed” and its derivatives have a number of interpretations based on context and form and the bed on which we sleep is just one.

More about “proper” beds and the important mattresses that we sleep on can be found by researching on the net and in stores. The orthopedic properties, traits and features that are desirable in good beds are explained in detail for each of the different bed and mattress types.

For those more interested in flower beds, here is a picture of one.

Different types of chair

It is amazing how many different types of chair variation there are. Chairs of one sort or another have been sourced or designed for just about every purpose conceivable from the wheelchair to the lounger chair found in the sitting room or family room.

At one end of the spectrum you will find chairs aimed very much at sitting down and relaxing whilst watching TV, reading or listening to music, whilst at the other end of the scale you have chairs that have been put together for a functional reason. This may be to operate a computer, play on a gaming console (with sound and even vibration provided by the chair), or for some skilled trade occupation.

One of the advances of modern technology is the specialisation of different chair uses. Once upon a time an easy chair was and easy chair and a high backed dining style chair was just that. Now however, there are chairs that offer therapies like heat and massage and chairs that have reclining features, or motors that assist with the getting up and sitting down activity. Ultimately there is a chair for everything.

A good selection of the alternative chair options can be found by exploring furnishing stores and mobility and health stores where a number of the chairs described above may be displayed. Still more developed and customised chairs include those designed into a stairlift. These special lifts make it possible for someone who struggles with steps and stairs to travel effortlessly from one floor level to another without assistance.

Adjustable chairs have become increasingly good sellers, particularly when it comes to task chairs. These are chairs that are intended for the fulfilment of a particular job or activity and the adjustable features make the customizing of the chair’s set-up specific to anyone using it. The number and variety of adjustments vary from chair to chair and the more you pay the more you get.

So how many different chair variations and models are there? Well there are chairs for babies and children, chairs for cars with accessories, backrests, bolsters and cushions. Then there are chairs for outdoors and the garden, or even the beach. You also have special chairs that enable emergency services to get injured or disabled people out of buildings with stairs or danger. There are chairs that are designed to look good and fit into a certain environment or room, e.g. a bedroom chair, and then there are general chairs that will do for just about anything.

Ultimately there are a lot of chairs and variations on seats of all descriptions.

Mattress materials and systems

Continuing on from the last post looking at therapeutic beds, this post will look at the different mattresses that form the support on which a person sleeps.

Not too long ago mattresses were limited to springs or coils that, along with padding and ticking, constituted the mattress body. These days things have moved on and we now have a myriad of different mattress types from which to choose.

In addition to springs there is foam and this was, for many years, seen as a cheap and inferior product. That all changed with the arrival of visco elastic foam, commonly known as memory foam, and we now have Talalay latex foam too.

In addition to the foams there are some old style mattress filling materials like feather and down, organic wool and there are even some companies who make mattresses with a filling that is derived from grass.

The most popular mattress remains the one that uses springs and there are two versions of the sprung mattress. The cheap and cheerful one uses innersprings that interconnect and have what is termed a “low spring count”. The second has pocket springs that work independently and the beds that use this type of spring have a much higher spring count (i.e. number of springs in a bed/mattress).

Foams cannot have a measure like a spring count, so instead they are graded by either density or firmness. Both of these metrics make it possible to get an idea of how hard or spongy the mattress surface will be.

Trying to compare one mattress material or product with another is never easy as each has its own unusual set of properties. There is also the problem of trying to define one as being better than another which again is difficult because the differences do not necessarily relate to something being better or worse. Comparative information about the various mattress options can be found via manufacturers and retaillers. It attempts to relate the different properties of each mattress type against another in an informative way.

Another mattress type, not mentioned above, is the water bed and you can also find air beds with controllable hydraulic inflation. Beds and mattresses can of course include other features like electric adjustment, vibration or massage and gentle heat. These can be found on some of the more expensive therapeutic or wellbeing beds.

The next post will continue the theme of mattress related products or products with an orthopedic slant to them.