Quality of sleep is essential to good human health and well-being. Many types of beds have been developed, including mattresses and box springs, water beds, air mattresses, and memory foam mattresses, e.g. Mattresses and box springs comprising spring systems with coverings of pliable foam layers and possibly other materials have been in use for many years and are widely available. Many approaches and enhancements to beds and bedding have also been developed including mattress top coverings that include specially formed materials and foam to improve comfort. A wide range of materials, coverings, and configurations of blankets, sheets, pillows, and other bedding accessories are available.
In spite of a wide diversity of beds that are available, serious problems exist for substantially all types and configurations. Mattresses including spring systems sag over time and bugs (especially bed bugs), mites, human secretions, and other infestations and contaminants build up. Hence, many bed systems are not hygienic because there is no convenient way to launder, clean, or otherwise restore them. While a mattress with heavy coverings may be warm and cozy in the winter months, a lighter mattress covering that allows air to pass may be far more comfortable in the heat of summer. Conventional spring mattresses are also large and bulky, making them hard to store and move.
Water beds are heavy, create damage if a leak or rupture occurs, and some persons have difficulty sleeping in them due to the motion of the water. Water beds normally include a heating system to warm the water in them that normally takes several hours to establish a requested temperature. Hence, while the water bed temperature is usually adjustable, a person may find a given temperature not comfortable and would need to wait several hours for the water bed to adjust. For at least the foregoing reasons, water beds are generally impractical for use in hotels.
Air mattresses are normally not preferred for bedding as they don't allow air to pass, resulting in a warm and sweaty sleeping environment. In addition, some persons are unable to find comfortable sleeping positions on air mattresses.
Some mattresses include viscoelastic foam. Viscoelasticity provides both viscous and elastic properties that enable a mattress to conform and support a person sleeping on it. The viscous nature of the material is sensitive to temperature and is normally configured so that the warmth of a person's body causes the viscoelastic foam to yield and conform; however, air does not easily pass through, making the mattress too warm for some persons, and viscoelastic mattresses are also susceptible to contaminations and infestations. Further, viscoelastic foam mattresses are generally heavy and also expensive relative to a conventional spring mattress.
A key problem with all existing types of mattresses and beds is that while they may be tailored to persons of specific heights, weights, body shapes, and other personal aspects; it is impossible for them to be optimized for all persons. Hence, a mattress that provides stiffer springs in the region of a person's back for better back support of larger and heavier persons cannot help but generate an uncomfortably too stiff feeling for other persons who are smaller and lighter. Adjustable beds may provide some accommodations for certain sleeping positions, but if a person changes position the bed may need to be re-adjusted. Accordingly, adjustable beds substantially retain the issues with the various types of mattresses that they may be used with, and also tend to be heavy and expensive to produce.