CUSTOMIZE YOUR SLEEP

As a physician, I tailor my treatments to my patient’s individual needs.  When I get in a car, I adjust the seat and mirrors before driving off.  When I buy new pants, I have the legs shortened and the waist modified to fit my body.  In most aspects of life, people expect the world to mold to their needs.  To “customize” something is “to alter something in order to make it fit somebody's requirements better.”

Yes, there are things that either cost too much or can’t be customized.  In those cases, we just make do.  Often, we make do when we don’t have to simply because we don’t know that a custom solution exists.

I sleep 7-8 hours a night.  That’s about 2600 hours a year.  I have spent almost my entire life sleeping on a flat surface.  That’s what humans do, isn’t it?  Of course, it is.  Go to any merchant who sells bedding and you’ll find flat beds made of all sorts of materials.

Recently, I discovered the joys of sleeping on a customizable bed.  The IComfort
bed allows me to position the head and foot of the bed independently.  While I have worked in hospitals for 30 years, I’ve never seen an adjustable bed that was comfortable.  The most common complaint I get from patients in hospitals is about the bed.

“Doc, I can’t wait to get home and sleep in my own bed!”  Now, I can’t either.  I have arthritis of my neck and low back.  I have limited neck mobility and a small
airway.  Sleeping on a flat surface was fine when I didn’t know the benefits of customizing the surface to my unique body makeup.  Now, after sleeping in a
zero gravity position, I fear I will not be able to sleep in hotels and my
friends’ guest rooms again.

It’s simply amazing! Not only does the bed allow me to optimally position my body for sleep, the surface of the bed conforms to me as well.  I like the custom fit of my new bed.  My wife does, as well.  Her side of the bed can be set independently of mine.

Being science-minded, I’ve started reviewing the literature regarding what is the “best” position to sleep in and have found very little scientific data. CNN published “Which sleep position is healthiest?” in April 2011.  I suspect that CNN’s article and all of the material I’ve read has been done on flat sleep surfaces.  Until formal research is available on customizable sleep platforms, I’m going to proceed with my own study.  As a matter of fact, I think I’ll study the
benefits of napping on such a surface right now so I’ll just turn off the
massager and Zzzzzzzzzz.

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