A good mattress and a good night’s sleep

        I watched a 35-minute video on sleep last week at work. It was interesting learning about the different stages of sleep and how one’s heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature cool down, then rise again just before the REM stage or dream sleep stage.
        The video mentioned the importance of not drinking alcohol or caffeine at least two hours before going to bed. It also spoke of taking a hot shower before bed and getting up when the alarm clock first goes off. It recommended that folks age 19 – 65 sleep from 7 – 9 hours a night.
        It was very informational. What it didn’t talk about was the need for a good mattress.
        If you want to dream good dreams, get a good mattress.
      Debbie and I bought a well-known brand pillow top mattress in 2014. We paid a lot of money for it. What a disappointment. I’d like to throw it out the door and set it on fire.
         My side of the bed is squished and I about roll on to the floor when I get too close to the edge of the bed. Debbie’s side of the mattress has a hole big enough to fill with water and wash the dishes. 
         I spoke with the company we bought the mattress from a few times. They sent a fellow out to look at the mattress, but it was determined not to be bad enough for replacement.
          They don’t have to sleep on it.
          To me, I would think a good mattress would last at least a dozen or so years, not four or five.
         Last year we went to look at new mattress. We looked at every kind of mattress in the book from the firm as a stack of plywood kind to the cooling mattresses, memory foam ones and pillow tops. I don’t know if there is a company that makes a mattress, a plain mattress with springs, foam and soft pad. And I don’t know what’s was more expensive, a new mattress or the down payment on a new pickup truck.
           There are all kinds of brands of mattresses out there. Everyone promises the best nights of sleep. Now they have mattresses in a box that are advertised on social media. I have yet to figure how they work.
          It scares me a bit to spend a thousand dollars on a mattress that is rolled up in a box and shipped to your door by Fed Ex or UPS.
            As one fellow I know said, “You just open the box and blow it up.”
            I like to sleep and do so every chance I get. I’ve been known to sleep half a day. I like to take naps as well. 
          When I come home from work, I usually pour a glass of iced cold tea and take a nap in my red La-Z-Boy chair. Naps last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. It all depends on how many hours of sleep I got the night before and how work went that day.
           Back in the day, my dad would come home from the factory and take a cat nap on the living room floor. He’d just lay there with no pillow or blanket for 20-minutes. He’d then get up and off he’d go outside to work in the yard or mow one of the many neighbor’s yards he cared for.
            We didn’t have an air conditioner until I turned age 10. 
            After getting our Frigidaire window air conditioner, my mom had a rule that it had to be at least 92 degrees before she’d turn it on. It might have been 95 degrees, I don’t remember.
            It ran most days as it was typically 95 degrees on a summer day in Oklahoma. At night, we’d turn the air conditioner off and turn on the attic fan. Attic fans were a common fixture in southern homes. Open all the windows and by morning, I’d be wrapped up in a blanket.
            I’m kind of spoiled these days. When it gets hot, the air conditioner comes on.
            I’m also a little spoiled about having a good mattress. 
We just want a plain mid-range firm mattress that is both comfortable, practical and that we don’t have to take out a second mortgage to pay for it.
          I can’t wait until we get a new one. The old one’s going out the door and on to the burn pile. 
         Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.