Adjustable Beds

Comfortable and supportive mattresses are something taken for granted.  Their evolution over the period of time is always at the back of our minds.  Sit back and relax and get to learn how the bed came about. 

The primitive beds came into existence 10,000 years ago during the Neolithic period when the ancient people began sleeping on them.

In 3400 BCE, the benefits of raising a pallet off the earth were discovered by the pharaohs of Egypt.  The great Egyptian King Tutankhamen slept in a bed endowed with ebony and gold. Palm bows stacked up in the corner of their homes became the bed of common people.

The first luxury bed decorated with either gold, silver, or bronze was used during the Roman Empire.    The Romans also began using waterbeds.  By reclining in a cradle of warm water, the sleeper gets drowsy and then elevated to an adjacent mattress to be rocked to sleep.

The Renaissance period marked the beginning of mattresses from shucks of pea or straw and feathers coated with lavish velvets, brocade and silk.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, straw mattresses were placed on top of a latticework of rope.

The late 18th century brought was characterized by the advent of beds made of iron and mattresses coated with cotton.  These types of beds were bug-free.  Until that time, most royal beds were stuffed with assorted vermin.

A patent was received by the first coil spring bed in 1865.

In the 1930s, the market saw the emergence of innerspring mattresses and upholstered foundations in the U.S. and Canada.

Futons became a household name in North America in the 1940s. Ten years later, the market saw the rise of rubber mattresses and pillows.

The 1960s was spearheaded by the introduction of the modern waterbeds.  There was an increasing popularity of adjustable beds among consumers.  In the 1980s, airbeds became a trend.

During the last decade of the 20th century, there was a great demand for spacious sleeping. The queen-size mattress beats the twin bed as the choice of Americans in 1999. 

The start of the 21st century brought about a revolution in contemporary bedding.  Aside from a wide range of innerspring mattresses, there was a rise in cores for foam mattresses. Other options for sleeping comfort were the airbeds, waterbeds and adjustable beds.  Soft cushions were provided by pillow top mattresses.  No flip-mattresses were likewise common.

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