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The Big Blowup Do ever-popular air mattresses overinflate our expectations of a good night’s sleep in the long term? 
Knowing her New Hampshire vacation home attracted more guests than she had places to snooze, Maureen Campbell of Wakefield, Mass., found an affordable, comfortable option in inflatable mattresses. “We have three we keep in the playroom in the basement, and one we keep in the spare room,” Campbell says. “We have bunk beds in the spare room, too, but sometimes we have more guests than we have room for bunk beds, so this is an easy way to go. You can inflate them when you need them, and when you’re done with them you can deflate them and put them aside. Some say they’re more comfortable than the mattresses on the bunk bed.” Inflatable mattresses, air-filled bladders that can take the place of traditional box spring mattresses, have been around for about a century, says Kurt Owen, spokesman for the Schaumburg, Ill.-based Aero, a leading producer of inflatable beds. But for decades they lagged behind options like the pullout sofa-bed because of shortcomings like detachable pumps that were hard to keep track of, seams that would release air as the nighttime wore on, and rubbery surfaces that seemed to resist sheets while sticking to the skin like body-length bandages. “We just launched a bed called the DuraSuede,” Owen says. “The entire outside of the bed is fabric. On the top of the bed is a microsuede material, and on the bottom of the bed is proprietary fabric that resists punctures. It’s just about impossible to puncture.” Owen adds that all AeroBeds now come with a permanently attached pump, which means you can just plug them in and they are good to go. Ellie Pryor Booher of the Seattle-based Cascade Designs, which specializes in making self-inflating mattresses for camping, mentions another breakthrough: “In 2004 we introduced women’s models. There was a demand for mattresses that better met their demands, so we designed mats that added warmth to the torso and foot area where women tend to get colder than men.” But as 20 years of improvements in designs, pumps and materials have vaulted inflatable mattresses back into homes, some health professionals still have concerns about using the beds long term and whether they offer adequate back support. What one back expert looks for in air beds To understand these concerns, Dr. David Madison, spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association, describes what he looks for in a mattress. “Your mattress should provide good, uniform support. There shouldn’t be any gaps or sags in it.” Traditional box spring mattresses offer this support through coils, foam mattresses offer it through foam density. Inflatable mattresses offer it through air. As we lay our bodies on a mattress, our weight should be evenly distributed, Madison explains. This gives our muscles a chance to relax and rejuvenate as we sleep. “If the body is not supported, the muscles in your neck and back stay tight all night to support you. A mattress that sags doesn’t allow the musculature to relax. If you go to bed feeling fine and wake up sore, that is an indication of a problem.” When at rest on an inflatable mattress, this isn’t a concern. “When you are lying on an [inflatable mattress it] molds to your body, so it does distribute your weight out. The problem is when you roll over, or sit, or have someone in bed with you. Air mattresses have no supporting devices around them, so, when you move, the air shifts to another part of the mattress and you have no support.” One example of the benefit of inflatable beds used in concert with a supporting device can be seen in some hospitals and rehabilitation centers where a thin air mattress is often placed on top of a hospital bed. Madison said this is because the air evenly distributes the weight of the person in the bed, limiting too much pressure on any one part of body, which can cause bed sores or pressure sores. There are newer inflatable beds designed to address weight distribution by adding coils to the internal structure of the bed, Owen says. “Coils filled with air evenly distribute the body weight appropriately, taking the pressure points off those areas of the body that carry more weight than the others.” Coleman also offers inflatable beds with this technology. “All Coleman air beds include plentiful coils for firm, head-to-toe support that forms to the sleeper’s body,” says Jim Reid, an spokesman for the Wichita, Kan.-based company. But Madison worries even with these coils, inflatable mattresses don’t offer enough support to bodies in motion. “The air does distribute the weight evenly among the contact area. [The technology] is a modification of the old waveless waterbed; it is a plastic device that creates what they call an air coil. But you still need the supportive mechanism around the outside, so you don’t have that major shift in air when you move.” Like sleeping on air? Don’t stay too long Madison doesn’t condemn short stays on inflatable mattresses, and agrees that they offer tremendous convenience. “You can take them out an in a few minutes you have a bed,” he says. “A couple nights are OK. Make sure it is pumped up as much as it can be, because the worst thing is to have it go flat in the middle of the night. Short term is OK, but I wouldn’t use it as a regular bed for a long period of time.” Owen says this is exactly how most of his company’s customers use their beds. “The great thing is the convenience for temporary use. When you don’t have enough space and either yourself or someone else needs a place to sleep you can inflate it in a minute, deflate it in a minute, and it performs as well as a traditional box spring mattress.” However some people do use them for longer periods, he said. “We’ve seen anywhere from 7 [percent] to 13 percent of the people buying our beds use them every day. They will place one of our mattresses right into a frame.” For anyone looking into buying a mattress he offers this advice: “Make sure a pump is included in the bed. Look at the warranty. Make sure there is some type of fabric material, flocking, on the top of the bed to make it more comfortable, and make sure your sheets don’t slip.” As for Campbell, she’s yet to get a back complaint, and offers that her mattresses must be doing something right. “Everyone always comes to breakfast hungry,” she says. |
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