Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Science Behind Choosing the Right Mattress with Marten Carlson
31 Plays1 year ago
With hundreds of mattress companies claiming to have the next best thing in sleep, is there actually a difference? How do your body type and sleep posture influence the kind of mattress you should buy? You had no idea the science of mattress selection could be so fascinating.
Marten Carlson is the Lead Reviewer at Mattress Clarity. Connect with Marten at www.mattressclarity.com or on YouTube @Mattressclarity and on TikTok @nightcapmarten.
In this episode:
- The scientific process of testing a mattress
- Heat dissipation for hot sleepers
- The impact of sleep on anxiety levels and physical health
- When—and how—to replace your mattress
- Mattress tech for cooling and sleep tracking
- How sleep position impacts ideal mattress firmness
- Optimizing your sleep environment when traveling
- The future of mattress innovation
Connect with us at SuenoLabs.com. We're currently looking for contributors and podcast guests!
Disclaimer: This show is for informational purposes only. Sueño Labs does not provide medical advice.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Mattress Innovation
00:00:00
Speaker
We're getting close to a long holiday weekend for 4th of July, which means we can expect fireworks, cookouts, and mattress sales. I think we've all had the experience of a rough night's sleep because we're on a terrible mattress. But with so many different companies advertising the latest innovations in sleep technology and all of these different ways to mail order a bed in a box, How much innovation is actually happening in the mattress world and how much of it really matters for getting a better night's sleep? To get to the bottom of these questions, I need to talk to somebody who really knows their stuff about mattresses. And luckily, I know the right person.
00:00:48
Speaker
Tonight, I talk with Martin Carlson, lead reviewer at Mattress Clarity, about the real ways that the mattress we choose directly impacts our sleep and how your sleeping position and other factors should influence what you look for in a new mattress.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'm Jimmy Leonard. This is Swenio Labs.
Martin's Journey to Mattress Reviewing
00:01:15
Speaker
Martin, welcome to Swenio Labs. How are you today? I'm great. Thanks for having me. So you have an interesting profession. You are the lead reviewer at Mattress Clarity. Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, it is an interesting profession, not something I thought I'd be doing when I was in college. But years ago, I found this job as ah starting as a copywriter for this review site. And through that, really kind of got obsessed with mattresses. It became an interesting subject to me. And so for the last six years, I've been reviewing and worked my way up to Lead Reviewer. And What that entails is I test lots and lots of mattresses. And the main kind of thing that our site does and that I i do is kind of fill that gap between buying a mattress online and trying it out. ah One of the things, you know, there are drawbacks to buying a mattress in the store, like pushy salespeople and things like that. One of the upsides is you can try it out for yourself, right? You get some time with it to see if it's a good fit for you.
00:02:17
Speaker
You know, with an online bed, all you can do is, you know, see what's on their site and OK, this sounds like it might be a good fit for me, but you really don't know until
How are Mattresses Tested?
00:02:25
Speaker
you get it. So I kind of come in in between there and say, OK, I tried this out. Here's how it feels for cooling. Here's how it feels in different sleeping positions. Here's how it feels. Is it bouncier or more like slow kind of memory foam feel? So I kind of, again, fill in that gap for for users and for shoppers. So walk me through that process when you say you try it out. What does that mean? Do you have to sleep on it for a week? Or is it you lie down for an hour? What goes into trying it? Yeah, so so it's a lot of things. So first off, there is there is sleeping on it. And that can be for a nap up to a week. ah We also have people who tried them out ah for years kind of giving us information about hey, this thing doesn't hold up for for super long.
00:03:06
Speaker
That's why we're still rolling out in a more concerted way. But it's it's good to have that information because this is going to break down in two years. Is this bed any good? But beyond the sleeping, it is objective and subjective tests. So on the objective side, we do some scientific tests like use a pressure map. And what that does specifically for side sleepers is give us information about where they're seeing pressure. Like when you're on your side, you're putting a lot of pressure on your shoulders and your hips and a firmer mattress can kind of bunch up pressure in those areas, make it uncomfortable. With a pressure map, we could kind of see where that pressure is being relieved or kind of
Mattress Quality and Sleep Health
00:03:40
Speaker
building up. We're also starting to use a heat gun. It kind of looks like Predator vision from the movie, um which super I really enjoy using it as a also a movie fan. But you look through it and first get a base temperature for the mattress without anybody on it. OK, this is it, you know, 65 degrees or what have you. And we have someone lie down on it for five minutes and then they get up and we read how much much body temperature has been trapped in that mattress.
00:04:05
Speaker
And we do that because a lot of times, people talk about, oh, I sleep hot. It can be your mattress's fault. And some materials like memory foam have chemicals that trap body heat and can make you overheat more during the night. We're testing to see if this mattress is letting that heat out, dissipating it. Is it more breathable or is it trapping that heat? We also do stuff for couples. Big thing is motion isolation for couples. And what that is, if you sleep with a partner, you've probably experienced they roll around at night or get up to go to the bathroom and you're like, hey, like you wo you woke me up. Some beds are better at mitigating that, right? They're cut down on that motion transfer. They they isolate that motion. So
00:04:43
Speaker
We're testing for that with seismographers, also just, you know, as simple as me lying down on one side of the mattress and someone moving around on the other side to kind of mimic that or the good old fashioned. Some people use a wine glass. You've probably seen that in commercials. Like right I use a water glass and I've spilled way too much a wine on on mattresses and I've learned my lesson. Apologies for my long winded answer, but that's kind of ah on a lot of what goes into it. I think that's so important. You're talking about using these predator
Consumer Habits and Industry Innovations
00:05:10
Speaker
ray guns and all these scientific tests. And, and this is really what I want people to realize about what you're talking about here is you introduce yourself like, okay, I review mattresses, like this is so much more than Oh, four stars, five stars, go to the website, you have all this information about sleep research and Trishan and mental health and some of these other things that you mentioned to you that really go into getting a good night's sleep.
00:05:33
Speaker
My question from that is, why do all of these other things matter? Why isn't it just as simple as Oh, well, choose something that's the most comfortable for you, like you would do a t shirt or something like that? Why do we have to think about heat dissipation and the movement of your partner and all these other factors? That's a great question. And I'm going to say something super cliche here that you see in every single mattress commercial. But that is we spend nearly a third of our lives sleeping, right? And I say cliche, but it's true. Sleep is such a huge part of our lifetime wise, but also it contributes to our whole body health. You know, it's I'm a certified sleep science coach. So, you know, through that training, learning about how sleep affects mental health and vice versa, personally deal with anxiety and depression and poor sleep can exacerbate that.
00:06:18
Speaker
but also having high anxiety can make it more difficult to get deep sleep. And it's this kind of back and forth cycle. So you get it, you know? You know, nutrition, for me personally, I also feel sleep apnea. A little story here, when I first started reviewing mattresses and just writing about sleep in general, I wrote an article about sleep apnea and all the negative effects it can have on your health. And I was reading about the symptoms and I said, that sounds kind of familiar. And I went and got tested and they're like, you have one of the worst cases we've ever seen. One of the reasons I'm also kind of obsessed with what I do is I think it literally saved my life. Sleep apnea is connected to higher risks of heart disease, ah heart attack, stroke. I'm 40, I'm not getting any younger. I try to take my health more seriously. And sleep apnea as well, we have information about that. As you said, nutrition also like when it comes to what you want to eat to help with your sleep. You know, there's the classic stuff like chamomile tea for drinking or warm milk or there's certain types of foods you don't want to eat close to bed, like super spicy things. So kind of answer your question and come back to it as well. It's not just the mattress, right? Any product that tries to promise this is going to fix all of your problems. It's just, that's not true. But getting the right mattress in conjunction with practicing good health across the entire spectrum could help you get better sleep and that can help your health as well.
00:07:33
Speaker
That makes so much sense to me, and I'm probably overgeneralizing a little bit here, but I'm sure it's true for most Americans. We replace our phones, we replace our laptops, we replace, insert any other gadget, probably two or three times before we replace our mattress. yeah Most people, you just kind of let this thing wear out. and And to your point, we spend so much time on a mattress. It has such an incredible impact on how we feel the next day, physically, emotionally. And we don't always treat it with that level of importance. We don't really think about making the same level of decision that I would make for getting
Cutting-edge Mattress Technologies
00:08:10
Speaker
a new car for getting a new mattress. And the mattress probably matters more. A hundred percent. Thought way too much about this over the years. And I think
00:08:18
Speaker
The number one thing I see is mattresses aren't cool. I honestly think that's what it comes down to, you know, and you think about I think mattresses are very cool, but I'm probably one of like not many people. Right. It is a tool versus like, oh, man, like I love getting a new phone. Like, um oh, here's the new iPhone or the new Samsung or getting a new car, like upgrading or something so neat about that. But to your point, like this is more important as a tool than anything, you know, a car gets you from point A to point B. And as long as it's safe, you're good. And it runs with ah with a mattress. It's a little bit more insidious with the things that could be happening to your body you don't even know about. Growing up, who slept on beds for 15 years? i mean i People tell me, like I've had the same bed forever. Why do I have back pain? I'm like, I have a pretty good idea what might be causing it, my friend. so with i mean How many mattress companies are there in America?
00:09:10
Speaker
Oh my gosh, to even venture a guys. I mean, there's hundreds, like there hundreds, you know, big brands. I say the big online brands is probably like 20. And then you get into like some fly by night kind of companies. ah People try to get in. They have like the new hot thing. They get out pretty quick. because it doesn't sell the way they thought it to. ah it's It's a difficult market to also get into because there are some players who've been doing it. You look at in-store brands like Sealy or Serta Simmons, and they have online stuff as well, but and he's been around for like over 100 years. They were making horse-haired mattresses back in the Wild West, like no jokes. There's some old companies working in this environment.
00:09:50
Speaker
With hundreds of different companies, what is at the forefront of innovation in the mattress space? And you you mentioned the hot new thing. Color that for me a little bit. What are people doing that's different than we saw five, 10 years ago? It's interesting because to be blunt, not a whole lot compared to other industries like where you you think again about tech, right? You look at 10 years ago with phones. Oh, my gosh, completely different with what work computers. Like you said, same thing, cameras. With mattresses, because I think the design is always going to be a base layer like coils or foam, and then you know foam or some kind of pressure-leaving material on top or a pillow top, there's only so much you can do. So I do find it funny or interesting when I hear a company say we have the new hot thing.
00:10:36
Speaker
one thing I've seen. And it started it a little bit before I kind of got into this reviewing. I think purple is one of those things that's a very unique material. The purple gel grid is one of those things that is different. It is different than other companies. I like it. Not everyone likes to feel is super breathable for hot sleepers as a unique this gel grid design that kind of collapses under only certain parts of your body. It's really, really cool. The other place I'm seeing innovation, though, because I don't want to discount what companies are doing. They are innovating in a lot of ways. One thing I'm just seeing is just like some bed-in-a-box companies bringing everything under one roof. So that's actually upping the quality. They're they're producing their own foams, their own everything in one factory. um Also allows for lower prices. So you're getting you're getting better mattresses for a lower price. um and And I think also the bed-in-a-box idea in general is becoming much more trustworthy. I remember like when I first started, people would say, oh, like like an Amazon mattress? And it's like, no, now most companies offer bed-in-a-box
00:11:36
Speaker
And they have the technology to kind of back it up that when it pops open like 99% of the time you're going to get what you paid for. It's going to come out fully formed and correct. But I don't think it's cooling. I think cooling is a huge a huge thing for lots of my readers and viewers. um Personally, as a hot sleeper, it's something I worry about. So a lot of brands are sometimes it's business speak. It's like we got this new blah, blah, blah proprietary cooling technology. And sometimes with a test, it actually is working. There's something called like phase change material, which is a material that draws heat away from your body. I'm seeing a lot more mattresses. So cooling seems to be the the big kind of jump forward I've seen in the last few years. And also just leaning into
Choosing the Right Mattress for Sleep Positions
00:12:15
Speaker
the general idea that there is no one mattress for everyone. um You know, I think back to
00:12:22
Speaker
ah the early days of some brands, they had one mattress. right and It was like, this is the perfect mattress. like We only need one. And now they have 30 models. And so though sometimes there's too many, but it's like something for everyone. like If you're a back sleeper or a side sleeper or you're a super, super hot sleeper or you're a pillow top feel or you have certain you know back pain or joint pain, there's things you know that are more orthopedic and made for you. So there has there has been some innovation in certain ways. There's so much there that I want to go back to you. This is great. All right. So a few times you've talked about somebody being a hot sleeper. How do you know you're a hot sleeper? Like, what are the giveaways if somebody's thinking, Oh, I wonder if I'm a hot sleeper? I think I number one thing is just it's kind of gross, just sweat, you know, like if you wake up hot and sweaty a lot, no matter like how cool your room is.
00:13:08
Speaker
If you know it could be your comforter as well, it's not just your mattress. A lot of times people wake up from that. It's just that overheated feel. Not being able to cool down on your mattress is just is as simple as it is. But there's a lot of things you can do to kind of, again, mitigate that, like the right mattress, cooling sheets, breathable sheets like bamboo sheets, cooling pillows, obviously lighter covers on top of you. You don't want to have a huge heavy down comforter when you're trying to cool down, ah opening your window or getting your AC to a lower level. But it's usually just like that feeling of overheating you have at any point of I am just like waking up sweaty. And if it's disturbing your sleep or if you're waking up super dehydrated, that's something I deal with is like I'm just sweating out all out and I wake up with like dry mouth. And I'm like, yeah, I just I think I'm just like and chugging water in the morning. Then there's signs like that.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, so maybe if if some of that's happening to you, it's like, huh, this doesn't happen to everybody. This could actually be something I need to think about when I'm you know creating that ideal sleep environment in my room. Yeah, absolutely. and it's And again, it's more than the mattress. I never want people to feel like that that one cooling mattress is going to fix it. you know It's like adding that together, like you said, with the entire environment of the room ah can be key. So I want to go back to you. You mentioned sleep position too. I'm a big runner and ah and running. it It is very much that two different people are going to have two different shoes because your foot is pronated differently. Some people have wide feet, some people have narrow feet, depending on if you like to run on trails, if you like to run on the road.
00:14:36
Speaker
and There's all these different factors that influence what sort of shoe actually makes sense for you. So when we're talking about sleep position, I know sometimes we we can put it into these big categories of side sleeper, back sleeper, but what are some of the considerations that go into how your sleep position should influence what you look for in a mattress? Yeah, absolutely. um It's a very good question. It's a huge thing that you look at the site and with lots of like best mattress for back sleepers, site sleepers, stomach sleepers for the main, main considerations when buying, when buying a new mattress. And it mostly has to do with two things. That's firmness and spinal alignment.
00:15:16
Speaker
When you're sleeping, no matter what your position, it is about promoting neutral spinal alignment. You don't want your spine being kind of pushed out of the mattress or sinking in too far. Back sleeping, the firmness scale is one to 10, right? And for some reason, I did not invent this medium firm industry standard is 6.5. I don't know why you think it'd be five, but here we are, right? So six and a half is is medium firm. And usually that's what you want as a back sleeper. Again, there can be other mitigating circumstances, but in general, what that allows is your hips to sink in the right amount to get the proper lumbar support, the proper overall support for that you know proper spinal alignment. And paired with the right pillow, your head's not being pushed up. You know, my best friend is a runner, and I know getting sleep is is is so important, especially after you know a race and making sure that you're getting the support you need in the right parts of your body. Side sleepings, I mentioned earlier with the pressure map discussion,
00:16:08
Speaker
Usually you want something on the softer end. It's because you have more weight isolated to kind of smaller areas of your body, namely your shoulders and your hips. You're really, really pushing down into those areas. And so you want something that's going to give under those areas, but at the same time, you don't want it to be a pillow because if you're not getting proper support, you're not in proper alignment, right? You're going to be all kind of waka doodle. And for stomach sleeping, it's usually you want something as firm as possible. Your weight, when you're on your stomach, a lot of your weight is concentrated in your pelvis area and kind of under your hips. You want to make sure you have something firm under there, or you'll have this feeling of, we call it your hips kind of bowing into the mattress. Then you're going to get lower back pain and all kinds of other issues. And that's kind of in general what we're talking about with sleeping position relating to firmness and kind of buying the right mattress for your sleeping position.
00:16:57
Speaker
is sleeping position one of those things that's just innate
Improving Sleep Habits and Environment
00:17:00
Speaker
to you as a human or or can you sort of train yourself? I know sometimes sometimes people talk about like an ideal sleeping position. Is that even possible to coach yourself into a new sleeping position? I've seen ah kind of studies and people talk about and ah you know, chiropractors and other other like Sleep doctors talk about using pillows to kind of prop yourself up in certain ways for certain positions, kind of training yourself to sleep on your back or your side. From what I've read in general, like back and side are more ideal. and they just They each have more and upsides when it comes to sleeping on your side can help with digestion. If you're having like you don't want to sleep on your back, if you have like acid reflux, or if you have any indigestion,
00:17:39
Speaker
Sometimes stomach sleeping is considered bad by a lot of professionals because that can cause, again, a lot of pain issues. And it's really hard to get your neck like with especially using a pillow that you can kind of get it, you know, a little crick in it off the mattress. So but there are people who have to in their stomach for medical reasons or other reasons. So it it really depends on the person. And I think it's just about comfort, like what makes you feel and just in my just in my subjective take. You know, I like sleeping on my side. I kind of like that fetal position feel. especially like when it's cold outside i like to pull all my covers and so there's a great seat specialist doctor jade will have spoken with numerous times she's amazing what i like about her her take is there's a lot of guilt and a lot of like misinformation around sleep of like i must be doing something wrong and it's like if you're comfortable you're getting good sleep you're probably okay.
00:18:25
Speaker
You know, so sometimes it's like almost too much information, too much overthinking about these things where it's like, hey, you're good. You know, just because this one thing said you're sleeping wrong. because When I first started, I was always like, oh i'm I'm doing this all wrong. Besides see that I was doing that wrong. But, you know, otherwise. It's like the danger of a health tracker or sleep tracker. it It can be really good to give you information, but then sometimes it's like, oh, you you slept terribly last night. You're like, you know what? Apple Watch, I really didn't need that information today. I'm aware. All right. I 100% agree with you. I think it's like Princess and the P as well. I think that applies to mattresses as well is now that there are hundreds of, you know, hundreds of brands and thousands of mattresses out there, there is this thought of like, well, there must be the perfect mattress.
00:19:10
Speaker
out there and it's just waiting for me. And then unless i I feel the certain way, I have to keep sending them back. And we end up overthinking that and getting getting stuck, kind of stuck in this whirlwind, right? I have a friend who spent a year picking it the right Kindle model for him. You know, I don't like to, it's a Kindle, like it's going to work, you know? And I feel like we get in that with mattresses too. And it's not quite right. It's not quite right. And especially when you're dealing with a partner, like it is difficult to find something that works for both of you. But I do sometimes worry that with sleep tracking as well, that we're now making it almost this like we're gamifying it to a kind of ridiculous degree. Yeah. I've been quite literally with Pokemon sleep and all of these things that seriously is turning into a game. I'm going to take this in a different direction. I think we, we can spend all of this time finding the perfect mattress for home, but then what, what happens when we're not at home? I have the worst sleep of my life when I travel. What can be done about hotel beds, beds at family members house that aren't working for you?
00:20:07
Speaker
I think that's ah that's a very good question. When it comes to family members' houses, and if you have a really specific sleep needs, number one answer is, if you can afford it, sleep someplace else, right? i but day and Not a lot of us can have that option. They can't have other benefits when you're supposed to be staying with families, like, you know, hey, hotel down the street. i don't And I don't want to call my family out, but I'm six, seven, and I went to stay with some family members and end up sleeping in a kid like a kid's bunk bed. It was only space for me. Oh my God. terrible like it just like and to your to your question and that situation I don't know like there's just nothing you know it's like I'm sorry um I think though if you know it's a place you stay often
00:20:51
Speaker
buying like a mattress topper ahead and say, hey, like shipping a mattress topper, like if you're going to stay with like your your parents' house for a week and they have the worst guest bed, a mattress topper can be a good way to kind of like if soften it up, get more pressure relief for a couple hundred bucks. I think that's one option. I've seen when it comes to hotels, it's probably not as much of an option you know that you're going to be there for two nights. I also sleep like garbage no matter even how nice the hotel is. It's a mix of I know some people use pillows like putting between their legs or, you know, under their back if it's not enough support under their lumbar area. It may be beyond the mattress and just kind of prepping yourself for sleep in the hotel. It's good sleep hygiene in general. Like, you know, a lot of times when I'm in the hotel, I'm falling asleep to the TV. I don't know about you, but it's just like it's right there. You know, and I always put on like I'll put on South Park and I'll pass out and see, you know, and then that's definitely not helping. There's studies that show that falling asleep with the TV on
00:21:42
Speaker
not obviously not good for your sleep. There's also blue light submitted by your phone and by your computer. So if you're on a work trip, trying to kind of put that away a little bit earlier, a couple hours before you try to fall asleep, kind of limit your screen time. Also a warm shower, ah go a long way. um Also alcohol effects sleep negatively. So if you're on a trip, a work trip and it's a happy hour or you're on a vacation, like that can negatively affect your sleep as well. So there's a lot of things, again, beyond the mattress and beyond getting that comfortable that kind of come into play. Yeah, that's such great advice. I think that for me, a lot of times it's it's the dryness of the room. I don't know what it is about hotels, but they always have negative percent humidity if that's even possible. yeah So sometimes I'll like take a wet towel and put it over the radiator or something. Oh, I like that. That's just ah just to try to get a little bit of of humidity in the room. Yeah, all those other tips are great. I mean, is there any you mentioned a lot of really good things? Is there anything else that comes to mind on that topic of preparing yourself for sleep? I love the way you phrase that I personally meditate, not just for sleep, but just for everything, mental health and everything in my life. Meditation can really help. There is also beyond the hotel, um just making your your bedroom someplace only for sleep. Everything that I've read is sleep and intimacy are the two reasons for a bedroom. And once you make it anything but that, um that's when things get kind of messy. I think that's happened to a lot of people and with COVID, and me me included, of working from home out of the bed. You are now associating your bedroom with work. You're now associating your bedroom with other things besides sleep. And so when you lie down,
00:23:19
Speaker
your your body and your mind are not trained to say this is a place for rest or for intimacy, right? You're training it to, you know, this is for work. This is for me. I'm i'm alert when I'm in this position. And so so also another thing, instead of using screens, reading, I think, is a lot better out of an actual book, like not a clit kindle, not to call my friend out again, but, you know, read read a book, read something to help you fall asleep. And my really good friend is a a psychologist. And we did a whole thing about ah sleep and psychology. And one of the things that may seem kind of counterintuitive is if you know, a lot of people, myself included, you wake up the middle of the night, you can't go back to sleep. Sometimes the best thing to do is get out of bed. Because you're again, you're associating, you're associating being in bed with being awake.
00:24:06
Speaker
um getting out of bed, going to read in a separate room in low light. Again, don't it's not a good time to open your phone, which is, again, guilty as charged. I am, you know, pot calling the guy black for sure. But there's it's it's, again, getting out of
Smart Mattresses: Pros and Cons
00:24:20
Speaker
there and allowing that place to just be a place for rest. And you may find after being out of the bed and going to sit in your den or like your your living room, low light, you you might be ready for sleep. um Again, it's not going to be a fix all for everything. But again, I really love that piece of advice my friend gave me. Sometimes it seems counterintuitive, but you might need to get out of bed. Yeah, it's like that old adage, the best way to fall asleep is to not think about falling asleep, right? It's like you have to have to take the stress off of it, take the pressure off of it. I think to what we're talking about earlier, that's probably part of why it's so hard to sleep in a place like a hotel room is because the very nature of a hotel room is that it's not just for sleep.
00:24:58
Speaker
you know, you are trying to work on that tiny little table and, you know, do whatever else you're doing while you're traveling. So it unless you can afford the presidential suite every time you travel, it's hard to hard to replicate that. No, absolutely. To to your point, like. Everything we're usually doing when we're traveling is usually not, we're not in our normal schedule either. Like, you know, we're not eating what we normally eat. If you're trying to be healthy nutrition wise, you're probably eating out more. It's harder to eat healthily. You know, again, you're sleeping in a room with the giant TV, a giant window, a dry radiator, and everything's against you. So I'd also say don't feel bad if you're like us and you can't fall asleep. So you talked about some of the the danger, maybe danger is a strong word. You talked about some of the risk of technology and being on your phone and watching TV. One of the things that is probably inevitable in the next decade is seeing more smart technology come into mattress innovation. um I'm sure some of it is probably already there, but if you have an opinion on this, what are your thoughts on bringing smart technology into our sleep space? I'm mixed.
00:26:06
Speaker
on On one hand, it definitely relates to what your point about um sleep trackers and the aura rings and over tracking everything about our, not just our sleep, but everything like heart rate and, you know, obviously there's healthy reasons to do that, but that obsession with all of our numbers, you know, here's how deep, here's how long I was in REM sleep. And, you know, a lot of smart beds have that technology, which is awesome. And if you have a sleep condition that can be super helpful for for your doctor to have that information or for yourself, But it can also go too far where youre you you start to overthink it. The one thing I've seen, which I thought was really neat, was technology for cooling. I keep coming back to cooling. ah But the eight sleep mattress is super, super interesting. ah They do a lot of advertising with like athletes using it. They have a lot of ah big influencers. I got to try. I think it was the three. And what it is is it's a it's a mattress. And next to it is this computer slash water pump. Put distilled water in there.
00:27:02
Speaker
and these tubes come out of that into the top of the mattress. So it's basically the top of your bed is this array of tubes running back and forth across the mattress. okay And what it does is it tracks your sleep and the computer in that and that pump either sends warm or cool water to keep you at the right sleep right temperature while you sleep. Now, that's like the ultimate for like super hot sleepers and and some athletes, again, really swear by it. It's pricey though, you know, and- I would imagine. it's It's quite expensive. And the thing, so I think on one hand, there's some negatives about just too much information from the tracking. But I think tech like that, that is really innovative. The things like that I think are a jump forward. There's also when it comes to smart technology with adjustable beds is I think really is great because I was in Vegas at this ah giant mattress show. A lot of people like me obsessed with beds and mattresses. But especially for older adults, there are some beds now, instead of like adjusting where like the head area comes up, which they do as well, they actually move vertically. And so they they ah lower down to make it easier for older adults to get into bed and they they rate they rise up.
00:28:14
Speaker
And it also they can put trackers in there if you are um either in hospice or home care. That information can be sent to your your caregiver. And so, wow, they haven't moved her up. they did They moved around a lot tonight as something happened. So I think tech like that is fantastic, obviously. It's going to save lives.
Advice for Couples Sharing a Bed
00:28:30
Speaker
But for again, where I just kind of hesitate is anything where it's just super tracky for just for people who want to know about that information versus who need to know that information. The tool is supposed to serve you, we don't serve the sleep tracker. Yes, exactly. Something that you haven't addressed when it comes to partner sleeping and how do you get a partner to stop stealing the covers at night? Is there a mattress that does that? Asking for a friend, of course, of course.
00:28:57
Speaker
just therapy, my friend, just therapy. But um no, what actually a trick that I heard that I thought was really cool is you each get your own lower blanket and you share an upper blanket. and so Again, i think that's when i I think that can work a little bit, but in the middle of the night, your partner's grabbing for what they're grabbing for. They're going to grab for those sheets. They're going to pull them over. The thing I've heard is just to have your own blanket that you can kind of tuck around yourself that they can't get at, but otherwise, it's a free-for-all. It's Thunderdome.
00:29:29
Speaker
got I think that double blanket thing is pretty trendy in Europe right now. I'm being serious. I've seen that. That's like the next thing is exactly what you said. I think it's Swedish. I think it's gotta be Swedish or something. It's a hot thing in Stockholm or something like that. It sounds Swedish to you, you know, this this idea of of we're close but separate, like that's kind of ah as as a Swedish American, it's 100 percent it there's that Nordic melancholy. It's the best. So yeah, but my wife is also Swedish ancestry. So oh perfect she's just probably just ahead on that. Well, well, Martin, this is fantastic. So where can listeners go to learn more about you, your research and anything and everything they want to know about mattresses?
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah, I appreciate it. So you can go to mattress clarity dot com for a lot of my reviews. We have a full team of reviewers as well, testing mattresses and other sleep products. In addition, the YouTube channel Mattress Clarity with way too many videos, everything you want to know about mattresses and sleep. I also now have a tick tock call at Nightcap Martin, where I'm doing some
Where to Find More on Mattress Reviews
00:30:35
Speaker
kind of more fun personal stuff. I'm talking about sleep, but also like my obsession with movies, more of a kind of holistic look at at who I am. So lots of ways to find me. Do you have a favorite movie that is about mattresses? Or maybe that's too narrow? Maybe about sleep? So there is one movie I talked about on my TikTok. It's called Death Bed, The Bed That Eats, about a killer bed in the 70s. Yeah, it's it's it's like i think and it's got the dad from Boy Meets World in it. It's bananas. like So that one is great. um Obviously, Inception, if we're talking sleep, I mean Inception's like,
00:31:08
Speaker
the best. And also, a I'm a huge scary movie guy. So definitely Friday, Nightmare on Elm Street. You know, I'm all about that. So there's plenty of a lot of sleep movies out there more than you would think. Well, Martin Carlson, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
00:31:25
Speaker
Swinyolabs is a show about sleep, memory, and dreams. For more content, visit our blog at Swinyolabs.com and connect with us to learn more about how you can share your story related to brain health and the daily habits that help us to rest and live better.
00:31:44
Speaker
Thanks for joining. We'll be back soon.