How many of you reading this just spent the night sleeping on a pillow you purchased over a year ago? two years ago? five years ago? I would place my money on more than 50% of you currently have a pillow that is more than two years old. I would simply like to say…disgusting! If you haven’t replaced your old pillow within the last year you should really consider it. Not only are you probably sleeping on a pillow showing a few years worth of drool, sweat, spills, and other stains…we all know what I’m talking about. You know, when you take the pillow case off to find a brownish yellowish looking pillow instead of the nice white satin look it used to have. Along with sleeping on that surface, you are breathing in all kinds of things you shouldn’t throughout the long night. For more on what you may or may not be breathing in view my recent post on Hypoallergenic Mattresses and Mattress Covers.

A “quality” pillow should be replaced about once every year…or about every third toothbrush or so. I say “quality” because a quality pillow is a pillow that you probably didn’t pick up at the dollar store. We feature many quality pillows on our site that range in price from about $50.00 to $100.00. You can get memory foam pillows or latex pillows from us and there are many other styles you can purchase elsewhere.

Recently, a lot of attention has been focused on pillow replacement. There was a story featured in the Today Show talking about how dirty your pillows actually are. They had four volunteer bring their pillows with them to the show and had scientists test their pillows for cleanliness and found skin cells, bodily secretions, animal hair and dander, bacteria and fungi, dust mites and dust mite fragments, waste, and more on their pillows. To watch the footage click here.

Simply stated, if your pillow is more than a year old consider replacing it with a new pillow before you spend another night on it.

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends and during this get together one of the topics we discussed it how there are so many options out there for sleep systems. You have so many options that buying a mattress has almost become as difficult as buying a car. Of course, since I’m employed by Rocky Mountain Mattress, I had a lot of questions that came flying my way and I did my best to answer them. Many questions related to what types of mattresses exist and how to find a mattress that is the right firmness for each person that will be sleeping in the bed.

If you’re anything like me, I like a bed that is completely different than what my wife prefers. She prefers a softer bed than I and I sink further into softer beds than her because I’m heavier than her…which leads to a soar back the next day. A few family members are in the process now of looking for a new bed and one has a wedding that is not too far off and is considering upgrading to a larger bed for added comfort when sleeping with a spouse. There are many things to consider when purchasing a mattress for a couple so here is my list of things to consider:

First of all consider size. Most couples make the mistake of buying a mattress that ends up being too small. You can spend years regretting buying a full or queen when you should have gone for the king. Don’t make this mistake!

Second thing on the list is firmness. For many couples the firmness level of their mattress is a sticky point in their marriage. One person sleeps well every night while the other ends up on the couch, floor, or elsewhere just to try and get a good nights sleep.

The third aspect is bedroom size. This aspect correlates directly with my first point. I always recommend the largest bed you can handle, but if your room won’t allow it then you will have to consider other options.

The last thing on my list is price. While you will pay more for a larger mattress keep in mind that over 10 or 20 years that extra cost becomes very little each year and you get so much more room for that little extra. Trust me…it will make the difference.

For these reasons, I often recommend an adjustable air mattress like the MemSleep 7400. An adjustable air mattress allows both people sleeping in the bed to adjust their side to the comfort level they prefer allowing them to have a more restful nights sleep. Most air mattresses are made at a very high quality standard and have warranties that extend to at least 10 years. This is the recommendation I just made to my many family members and I sleep in one myself. My wife and I just love it.

This morning I woke up with a kinked neck…ouch! Throw away the batteries for my alarm clock because I can’t get to sleep! I hate going through my day without being able to give the bobble head hello. You know; where you see someone you think you know, or someone you know but don’t really want to talk to…you give them the quick head move to say hi. Well…I can’t do that today as the kink in my neck is resting just below and behind my left ear. Here’s how my kink became.

First of all I couldn’t fall asleep. I just got a new bed a few months ago…it’s an air bed with latex as the topper (click here to see my bed). It wasn’t the bed that was causing the problem, but my mind. I couldn’t shut it off. All these thoughts were running through my head and the song Good Night Sweetheart was on replay mode for a few hours. After falling asleep I’m sure I wrestled with an invisible bear or something because I woke up all twisted around and my memory foam pillow was on the floor. Not only do I love my brand new bed, but I love my pillow as well.

Let’s hope I sleep better tonight!

As I have spent time on the internet browsing topics that relate to bedding there is one that seems to be of high popularity right now; hypoallergenic mattress covers and mattresses. I thought I should take some time to throw my “hat in the ring” on this topic as to give sense to why this topic might have grown so much in interest lately and also touch on what product I really think is a great option in the area.

We have all heard the claims that the air in our homes is twice as dirty as the air outside. Many people find that hard to believe…myself included. However, with all the buzz that has been created on this topic by successful marketers there has been an increase in products surrounding the “clean air industry”. Whether you believe the studies or not, that fact is that there are many “things” in the air that can affect us negatively including: allergens and house dust mites.

Most people are unfamiliar with what a house dust mite is, so let me explain. Dust mites come from the same arachnid family as the spider. They are so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye and are generally oval in shape and cream in color. They have eight legs with sticky pads on the end of their legs allowing them to burrow into fabric fibers and carpets. The bedroom is a perfect haven for house dust mites and they love making homes in your pillows, mattresses, blankets, bed springs, and comforters. In fact, the average bed had two million of these creatures living in it. They affect us by consuming our dead skin cells and then dropping waste pellets containing allergens and debris. The pellets are small enough to be breathed through our mouth and nose while sleeping. Breathing these pellets causes many to experience increased allergies and the cycle repeats itself every night while sleeping in our mite ridden beds.

To cure this problem many bedding manufacturers have created hypoallergenic bedding and mattress covers for standard mattresses, memory foam mattresses, latex mattresses, and air bed mattresses. The product we feature on our website with many of our beds is Amicor Pure®.

Amicor Pure® produces the amicor mattress covers featuring amicor fibers. The amicor fibers are made using “late injection technology”. This means that the effective ingredients are dispersed inside the fiber and not a fragile surface finish. The fiber itself creates a “slow diffusion” so that just enough of the active ingredient arrives at the surface. The fiber is self-replenishing and is durable, throughout washing and for the life of your mattress. Amicor Pure® has been designed to keep beds and bedding fresh, soft and pure. You can now sleep peacefully knowing that with Amicor Pure® you have the purest quality available – a quality that can actually improve your health. Amicor Pure® provides a sense of fresh air for the lifetime of your mattress and works continuously to prevent indoor allergens, providing a healthier sleep environment. The Amicor Pure® healthy sleep system is a truly modern luxury. In fact, it could provide the healthiest night’s sleep you will ever have.