What do you sleep on? Mattress Alternatives?

Dale Hodgins wrote:
 On most occasions, this was just to make a temporary,  easy chair sort of bed, 

Yeah buddy!! , I can relate:

While building a stone basement, and two story cordwood house, for two summers, we would go down to a river close by for lunch and there we all built lounge chairs out of river boulders. One might think that they would be a waste of energy after laboring all day, and uncomfortable as we had no padding on these chairs, but you could place the boulders so that you were supported in all the right ways, semi reclined with knees bent over a rock, back and neck fully supported. Being so close to a roaring mountain river that you could climb in to full immersion and then go back to the sun warmed rock chair was an extremely amazing way to have a lunch break. It was hard to go back to work, as cool as the project was.

Elias Antoniou wrote: Latex mattresses do the best job at conforming to the curves of the body and relaxing the spine (which is what we seek after, the surface to conform to our figure and not the opposite) but loose their attributes quite fast if they are full natural (100% natural latex) and are very expensive.

Thekla McDaniels wrote:Another sleep system that I did not see mentioned on this thread yet is a "kang", a "chinese heated living platform". So folks think of the rocket stove mass heater with a cob bench as the mass. The cob bench made wide and long enough to sleep on is your kang. I remember Ianto Evans said people sometimes make heated personalized cob recliners, and that the situation of receiving heat from the cob seems to soften the material, it does not seem like you are resting on brick. I know people have over heated mass benches and singed the bottoms of their sleeping pads, attention would have to be paid... but why not a cob kang, whether heated with hot water coil or the exhaust gases from the rocket stove?

Rachel Watersong wrote:The only downside we've found is that as a pair of snuggly newlyweds, it's a bit harder to spoon on the bed because one of us is usually on a buckwheat-lump. But... I think it's worth it.

Rory Rivers wrote:I realize it's not for everyone, but sleeping on the floor can be surprisingly comfortable. You just need something to insulate you from the ground and provide a little cushin (I use two wool blankets each folded in half). The first week or so it feels like, well, sleeping on the floor; but after that it just feels like sleeping in your bed i.e. the most comfortable place to sleep.

Skandi Rogers wrote:I've heard of wool stuffed mattresses, they should last a lifetime, but they do need re-stuffing every 4-5 years, and apparently that is a very specialist task. I don't understand how people manage to sleep on the floor, my back doesn't mind, but my hips hurt like fury and I wake up every hour or so with numb legs from the pressure on the hips.

r ranson wrote:I have an organic wool mattress fromShepherd's Dream.  Been using it at least 10 years.  Love it.

Being wool, and therefore a naturally non-flammable material, most regulations don't require fire suppression to be added to the mattress.  The only ingredients are wool, wool, more wool and cotton thread.

Depending on where you live, most mattresses require a prescription to be made chemical free, but wool usually doesn't.

After ten years, the mattress has compressed a bit in the center, as expected.  Part of this is my fault as I don't turn the mattress as often as I should.

The bedframe needs to let the mattress breath, so slatted wood or rope frames are most common.  The mattress fits on an Ikea bed frame just fine.  I have a simple, unfinished pine one.  

At the shop where I bought the mattress, they had it displayed on tatami mats.  This was incredibly comfortable and if I had the money, I would most definitely use this for a sleeping platform.  Some of my most comfortable nights have been on a thin cotton or wool mattress on tatami mats.  Or even just a blanket between the mat and myself were enough for a delightful sleep - I like a firm mattress whenever possible.

One of the most important things with a natural bedding mattress is that you fold down your covers each morning so that the mattress can breath.  DON'T make your bed first thing.  If you MUST make your bed for one reason or another, than do so after breakfast.


Other mattresses I've tried are wool and straw ticks that we use for medieval recreation.  This is very different than the Shepherd's dream mattress.  These are basically a sack of duck cloth that are stuffed with straw or wool that has been fluffed up.  After a couple of nights, the contents need to be repositioned a little, but it's not much more bother than fluffing a pillow - especially if you have the special mattress fluffing stick.  With straw, one usually needs to change the filling every year or 6 months.  With wool, every year or two.  

Jordan Lowery wrote:Most of the year I sleep in my mayan hammock. It's large and comfortable. And in the morning it gets hooked to the wall. A benefit to people living in small spaces. It's made from all natural fibers.

Rory Rivers wrote:I realize it's not for everyone, but sleeping on the floor can be surprisingly comfortable.  You just need something to insulate you from the ground and provide a little cushin (I use two wool blankets each folded in half). The first week or so it feels like, well, sleeping on the floor; but after that it just feels like sleeping in your bed i.e. the most comfortable place to sleep.

Joy Oasis wrote:I started sleeping in a hammock (attached to the stand)about six weeks ago because I read about people stopping their migraines this way.

Creighton Samuiels wrote:

Joy Oasis wrote:I started sleeping in a hammock (attached to the stand)about six weeks ago because I read about people stopping their migraines this way.

I wish you the best of luck, but this was not my experience, and I get true migraines.  They do get less common and less severe as I grow older, but I couldn't attribute that to a sleeping position.  That said, perhaps sleeping in a hammock could reduce the severity, because they swaddle you like an infant, and reduced sensory activity (read quiet, dark and comfortable) seems to help with mine.  When I was a teenager, my father taught me to meditate while under the proceeding 'aurora' and that trick helps immensely.  My migraines are genetic.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
I have been sleeping this winter in a hammock. It keeps me warmer than a bed... The bed picks up the cold of the room, and the thermal inertia of the bed is huge, so it takes a long time to warm up when I get into it. The hammock has very little thermal inertia. The canvas hammock  has an old denim/flannel quilt sewed onto the bottom of it. Then I wrap myself in a Sherpa/fleece blanket, and lay into the hammock. Instant warmth and comfort!

I'm loving the hammock, for the muscle and joint flexibility that it brings into my life. Myriads of sleeping positions are available to me. It's simple as can be to choose a position that stretches a particular muscle group, so I can essentially do yoga in my sleep.