Why the Water Mattress Is Now a Great Sleeping System

Beds and mattresses, and for that matter pillows, are usually made with a foam like memory foam, polyurethane foam, latex or other fillers like feathers and down. Some are traditional, some have been around for a long time and some are othopedically designed to do a very specific job. But one material that is often overlooked is water. Waterbeds have been around for quite a while and in the late 1960's and early 1970's they were both popular and associated with movies stars, rock stars and public figures. However, as the years went by they almost disappeared, firstly because they were always very expensive, secondly, because they were bigger and heavier than regular beds and thirdly, because the average person never quite got their head around the idea of owning a waterbed. It was a fantasy and not a practical item of furniture. The last couple of decades have however seen things change a little bit in favour of the waterbed. One reason has been the comparative reduction in price, especially when compared to some of the expensive brand name memory foam mattresses. Another reason has been the increase in stockists and availability. At one time a waterbed was an endangered species and just finding a store that stocked one was a novelty. However, with the internet, online shopping and virtual stores that can sell almost any product from any supplier, things have changed. Finding a waterbed is no longer a problem and they are widely available and affordable. The big change though has been a development in how a waterbed is assembled and put together. At one time all waterbeds had what were described as 'hard sides'. This meant that the sides of the bed were made from a frame and they were solid and structural. The water mattress, called a bladder, then sat inside this frame and the result was a bed that looked and felt very different to everything else. It was also very heavy. In more recent times another type of water bed has emerged and it is called the softside. The softside waterbed does not have hard edges, or a solid frame into which the water mattress is fitted. Instead the water component of the mattress sits below a padded cover that runs from one edge of the bed to the other. This cover is filled with a compressible material like memory foam and it lies on the top of the water bladder. The result of this design has two benefits. The first is that this type of bed looks just like any other, i.e. it could be a pocket spring mattress or a latex one. The second is that the mattress section is soft right to the edges of the bed. There is no frame, no hard edges and the whole of the top surface is soft and can be slept on. Suddenly all of the obstacles that once prevented a waterbed from even being considered seem to have been removed and, with no sagging, no lumps and a performance that never diminishes during the lifetime of the bed, the waterbed seems like a good option. To make matters even better the softside also has a shallow bladder which means less weight on the floor.