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Comment by vvpan | Hacker News Reader

I'll diverge from the main topic here for a moment. When I moved to the US I was puzzled to discover that there're stores that specialize in mattresses. Later it became apparent that US has, what seems to me, a bizarre fascination with mattresses. In my home-country (and I think many other countries) most people grew up sleeping on thin cotton-filled mattresses and the idea of mattress brands and "technology" just sounds preposterous. It seems like mattress firms have been able to reshape how a whole populace thinks about what elsewhere is a comparatively straight-forward product. Does a person really need hi-tech space-technology memory foam for a thousand dollars to sleep on? This study for example suggests that not: http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/11198791

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That study is about whether thin, cheap foam mattresses (not hi-tech space memory anything) are worse than cotton mattresses.

Also, "need" is a poor measure. Very little we consider fundamental in rich, developed countries is about "need". Take indoor plumbing, running hot water and flushing toilets - do we really need those? There are people alive today that grew up without those (in rich countries), and they did fine.

Yes, a good mattress is a bit of a luxury, but you're spending a third of your life on it, so it's hardly frivolous to invest in good, comfortable one.

Need? No.

Perhaps I've been corrupted by the mattress salesman talking points, but it seems sensible to optimise spending money by the time spent doing certain activities.

For me that means that spending on a comfortable work area - desk, chair, monitors, keyboards - comes first. Then maybe sleeping areas. I have avoided upgrading the bedroom only because of the confusion of understanding what is good value for money so far, as there are no returns or free trials of mattresses here.

In comparison, most people way overspend on their cars, which they might use only one hour per day.

YMMV.

My son can sleep soundly on concrete.

I'm tall, wide-shouldered, heavy-ish. So I should sleep on my back. But then my arms fall asleep. So for side-sleeping, I need at least a spring mattress.

I've had a few memory foam mattresses. They wear out (get divots) when the tiny air pockets get compressed and don't reinflate. So roughly, foam density is the key, denser is better.

Ignore any review that doesn't explicitly mention density. Shipping weight is a good proxy. Heavier beds, like the Tempur-Pedics, higher density, should be more expensive (cuz more material).

Light-weight people will probably be happy with the cheapo (under $1000) memory foam from Costco or Amazon.

I now recommend a good quality, flippable, plain (no pillow top) spring mattress and a disposable memory foam topper (3" to 5", depending). Best bang for buck, life span. I've done this a few times and it's as good (for me) as a full memory foam mattress and doesn't divot so fast. So my next bed will probably come from IKEA and whatever topper Costco's selling that week.

I haven't tried latex foam, so can't comment.

Ideally, I'd have a cocoon chair, or adjustable hospital bed, where I'm partially upright with arm rests.

Sell fear, back pain, bed mites, lack of sleep, it's the easiest sell in the book, plus a high cost item that lasts is easily pitched, 'Yours for $10/month) (over 10 years...), throw in a 'if you don't like it send it back' (at your cost...), that's sales, it's irrelevant whether people need something, capitalism is can you sell them something.

I mean, you try out a bunch and you buy the one that feels the best. In order to try them you have to go to a store that sells mattresses.

Sure all the technology stuff is fake- we call that marketing. Do you need the latest in shoe technology to walk down the street? You do not. But people buy Nikes nevertheless.

You might have noticed Americans are obsessed with technological solutionism, whether it's the form of products or pills. There's a cure for anything.

I think that's unfair towards technology, which is our primary and - I dare to say - only tool for solving problems[0].

What Americans, and other Western cultures, have a problem with is an obsession with consumptionism - the belief that you can always buy a solution for everything, the belief that the best solution comes from those who advertise most, the belief that they even care about you solving your problem. The gullibility to buy "space-tech" widgets with "new QuantumPower formula" that is obvious bullshit, from people who obviously have zero incentive to help you, and all the incentives to take your money.

[0] - I mean, what else is there? Magic? Hoping for divine intervention? Pretending a problem doesn't exist?

You are conflating science and technology. For example, people want to get a new mattress because they are having problems sleeping at night. Yes, you can try to find a more technologically advanced mattress and hope it solves your problem, or you can exercise more -- which has been shown to reduce insomnia in scientific tests.

Or you can do both. Sure, the mattress might only marginally increase your quality of sleep, but if the price exceeds the usefulness you get out of it, I'm not sure what the issue is. We spend a third of our time sleeping, after all. Might as well make the most of it.

I'm not. Science is what gives you answers, technology is what turns those answers into actual solutions. E.g. vaccines - the understanding of how they work is science; actual injections you get is technology.

Personally I've slept on a high-end futon for 20 years and a waterbed before that. So no fancy mattresses. That said, I do sleep in a mattress in a hotel now and then that makes me go "Damn, that's comfortable." One I went so far as to look up (The Mirage in Vegas) was apparently a variant from one of the high-end brands.

I came here to say that. I still don't get that huge fascination all over the US for mattresses.

It is a whole market fuelled by fear.

>>a bizarre fascination with mattresses. In my home-country (and I think many other countries) most people grew up sleeping on thin cotton-filled mattresses

Ya think that when 1/3rd of your time is spent (or roughly should be spent) on a mattress the quality should matter??? Not to mention back problems from not sleeping correctly or on the right position.

So, yeah USA is 200% correct in debating mattresses, just as HN crowd would be about debating about chairs, tables and keyboards.

Science moves on, so maybe "cotton-filled mattresses" aren't the best anymore. Personally I can attest that homemade sheep wool mattresses clump together, I can't see cotton do any better. $1000 is NOTHING to get a better nights sleep, Americans spend a lot of money for fancy coffees, just to start

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