Bedding Basics - What's Inside your Bed?

Before you go out and buy a new bed set you should take some time to the different components that make up the modern day bed set. Knowing this can save you lots of time and money when shopping for what some consider as one of the major purchases in life. Considering that we spend about one third of our lives in bed sleeping we want to be sure and pick a bed set we will be happy with.

Most bed sets are based on the same time proven design:

Bed Frame

The bed frame is what holds your box springs and mattress in place. Many modern frames are constructed of wood or metal with the higher quality frames able to accommodate several different mattress sizes. Be aware that frames made for larger size mattresses need to have a center support bar to prevent sagging.

Box Springs

The box springs are usually purchased along with a new mattress because they are made to work together as a complete set and if you are in need of a new mattress the chances are you also need a new box spring. Some think this is made up by the bedding industry to increase profits and if you are so inclined you can often find mismatched sets for a much better price than a matching set.

If you were to look inside your box springs you see a set of wire coils that are made to provide just enough support but not so much that the bed would be sagging while you were in it.

Mattress

The mattress is the part of the bed that provides the majority of the support your body needs to sleep well at night. If you do not have good support you will toss and turn and can wake up stiff. Lack of proper support is the main reason for people not sleeping well at night.

There are several types of mattresses available:

Traditional Coil These mattresses have individual steel coils inside them to provide spinal support and are the type of mattress most people are familiar with.

Memory Foam This mattress is made from a special visco elastic heat sensitive foam that gets softer as your body warms it up providing just the correct amount of support where and when you need it.

Water Bed These use large bladders filled with water that use a baffle system to provide support. They must be heated constantly as they are too cold to sleep otherwise.

Air Bed Another newly popular mattress is the air bed. Like a waterbed the air bed is filled with air and many of the more expensive models have remotes that let you control the firmness of both sides of the bed separately.

Padding

The final layer of the bed is usually made from cotton, wool or memory foam and is the main factor in determining the comfort rating of the mattress. Firmer mattresses will have less padding and softer mattresses will have more. The softest mattress available today is the pillow top mattress and is getting to be very popular.

There you have it. You now know the different parts of a bed set and can go shopping with confidence knowing that you are armed with the knowledge to pick the perfect bed set for your lifestyle.