The First Mattress in The History of Mattresses.
The history of mattresses is a long one indeed. In fact, the very first mattress dates back as far as 77,000 years ago! Referred to as sleeping mats, they were discovered in a South African cave. These early mattresses, weaved from special evergreens helped to repel mosquitoes. Analysis also indicated that owners regularly refurbish their beds. This helped to keep them in optimum condition. Clearly early people valued the quality of what they slept on. We as humans still maintain this trait today.
Early sleeping mats provided much more than a place to rest. In fact, researchers believe that early man conducted many activities on them. True many of us still enjoy spending most of our waking moments in bed. Can we be blamed with cosy mattresses such as The Best Mattress available to purchase? It's fair to say that a mattress crafted from plants 77,000 years ago was likely nowhere near the comfort we're used to. With this said however, it does gives us a clear indication that our ancestors loved resting. They did whatever they could to get the best night's sleep possible; some habits never change.
Mattress Popularity in The History of Mattresses.
The word mattress derives from the Arabic word "matrah" meaning to throw or place something down. Europeans first began to adopt the Arabic way of sleeping on floor placed cushions during the Crusades. Eventually, Europeans coined their own term for the "matrah". The word Europeans used was "materas", hence where the modern day name "mattress" comes from.
As the history of mattresses progressed, they began to increase in popularity within consumer culture. Early manufactured mattresses contained natural products such as hay, feathers or even horse hair. Lion Mattresses can wholeheartedly assure you that you've not missed out on these. Sleeping on a mattress filled with straw would be torturous in comparison to sleeping on a memory foam mattress.
Around the first half of the 20th century, manufacturers began to fill mattresses with cotton batting or polyester. Just in time for the turn of the century, a man named James Marshall first introduced the individually wrapped pocketed spring coil mattress. The idea was to provide a mattress which provided both support and comfort via the use of independent, internal springs.
Memory Foam and The History of Mattresses.
In 1966, memory foam was invented. This was contracted by NASA's Ames Research Centre in an effort to improve the safety of aircraft cushions. It was not long however until manufacturers began using this revolutionary material to improve comfort in mattresses. Memory foam is special due to the way in which it moulds to the unique shape of applied pressure. This works to essentially cradle your body whilst you sleep.
At Lion Mattresses, we continue to use memory foam in every quality mattresses that we make. We consistently work to improve the overall quality that memory foam provides by adopting the latest innovations in foam technology.
If the history of mattresses has taught us anything, it's that a great idea can always be improved upon. We've come so far as a species, from resting on evergreen sleeping mats to attaining maximum comfort with memory foam. Why not improve the quality of your sleep today with a superior memory foam mattress from Lion Mattresses?