5 Ways to Use an Adjustable Bed
Pam JohnsonIf you’ve ever spent a spell in hospital or, for that matter, visited a loved one while they’re laid up you’ve probably come across an electric bed. And chances are, whether tucked up yourself or sitting in the guest chair with a bunch of grapes and a crossword book, that you’ve been tempted to hit a button or two to take it for a test drive as well.
But mobility beds aren’t only useful for clinical settings (or entertaining bored grandkids).
The ultimate in comfort and convenience, these easily adjustable beds are increasingly finding their way into people’s homes, and for good reason. Not only can an adjustable bed help to improve mobility for the elderly and even, as healthcare experts believe, go some way to aiding recovery from illness or injury(1), these smart beds can also be employed to improve your day-to-day comfort. Adjustable beds have, in fact, become a more luxurious choice for those looking for a high-end option when buying a new bed.
An adjustable bed has the potential to benefit any user, young or old, by creating a perfectly personalised sleeping position. Additionally, that ability to raise your bed to a seated position can make the most of the ever more common habits of reading, watching TV and even eating meals in the cosy comfort of your bed more convenient and perhaps less likely to cause discomfort too.
What is an Adjustable Bed?
Pocket Flex Optima Divan Bed Set
Sometimes called mobility beds or reclining beds, these beds adjust to help you find your ideal sleeping position. They can also make getting in and out of bed that bit easierwith the most highly functional versions even lifting and lowering.
With head and foot end adjustments, electric beds provide the option to raise yourself inch by inch from completely prone to a seated position. The vast majority will also allow you to raise your legs – a must if poor circulation and swelling in your legs and feet is an issue.
Adjustable Beds with Style
Think electric bed and you probably picture something ugly and clinical looking, with a beige plastic frame and squeaky rubber wheels. But we’re really not suggesting that you turn your beautifully decorated sanctuary into something straight out of Holby. In fact, those horrid hospital beds and home adjustable beds arereallyquite different.
With some of the best looking adjustable beds UK-wide, Bensons for Beds brings a touch of style to your bedroom without compromising on convenience. And not only do our adjustable beds look great, they’re also effortless to control.
Taking Control of Your Electric Bed
Tech Motion Plus Adjustable Divan Bed Set
Once upon a time electric beds were a bit of a challenge to use, making you feel like there was a real risk of being thrown across the room or folded up like the filling in a mattress sandwich. High tech and smooth as silk, modern adjustable beds offer simple accessibility. Many feature a wireless remote control, allowing you to keep your buttons in the most convenient spot, with no risk of getting tangled in cable spaghetti. Some are even Bluetooth-enabled, meaning that you can adjust your bed using a smartphone or tablet.
Still not sure if an adjustable bed is right for you? Let us guide you through some possible uses:
1. Electric Beds for Improved Sleeping Posture
How you sleep matters and the sleep experts here at Bensons for Beds know just how vital it is that you get perfect support while you slumber.
An adjustable bed can help to ensurea comfortable sleeping position, allowing you to raise your head or legs for better support and pressure relief.While in the past you might have attempted to adapt your sleeping position with a unique configuration of pillows and cushions, you’ve probably found that over time this just makes things worse, adding an unexpected crick in the neck or shoulder soreness to the equation without solving the original issue.
The minor adjustments to your sleeping position that a recliner bed can offer may help to improve lumbar pain, with some experts recommending support under the knees to relieve pressure on the lower back, or lumbararea.
With an electric bed, the adjustments you make to your sleeping position are supportive and consistent, keeping your head and shoulders or your knees raised at the ideal incline throughout. It also allows for small changes without the need to roll blankets or re-fluff pillows in the dead of night.
So effective can an adjustable bed be for relieving joint and spinal pressure that some doctors may even recommend using one after spinal surgery or for specific conditions, including osteoarthritis, sciatica and spinal stenosis.
But it isn’t just back and joint discomfort that an adjustable bed can help to provide some relief from. If you find yourself dealing with acid reflux or heartburn as soon as you lay down to sleep, an adjustable bed could just help you find that ideal burn-free sleeping position(2). Additionally, a reclining position can offer a more comfortable night’s sleep during a cold, when a bunged-up nose and painful sinuses keep you from rest. And while a case of the sniffles might not be cause for a whole new bed set-up, regular bouts of sinusitis or allergies leading to postnasal drip, or a blocked nose can impact your sleep seriously enough to warrant the investment.
2. A Recliner Bed for Snoring and Sleep Apnoea
If you’re a snorer or, perhaps even worse, you sleep next to a snorer, you’ll know the disruption that those late night nasal rumbles can cause. According to the experts, around 57% of men and 40% of women are affected by snoring(3), with risk factors including:
- Drinking alcohol
- Obesity
- Chronic congestion
- A deviated septum(4)
- Pregnancy
- Large tonsils or a large tongue
- Taking sedative medication
While snoring might seem like a minor issue, for many people it can cause major disruption. Some snorers may struggle to get a decent night’s rest and the same goes for their partners, who often end up sleeping in the spare room or on a sofa, to escape the nightly racket.
Mild snoring (aka primary snoring) can be disruptive but isn’t necessarily a sign of a more serious condition. Sleep apnoea (5), on the other hand, can lead to serious complications, with links found to high blood pressure, stroke and depression.
Characterised by sudden choking, gasping or snorting, which can often jerk you awake, sleep apnoea is when your breathing stops and starts during sleep.
A common recommendation for snorers and those with sleep apnoea is to rest propped up in bed, with shoulders and head raised. In fact, one Brazilian study carried out in 2017 concluded that raising the head of the bed by just a few degrees significantly reduces symptoms of sleep apnoea (6). A further study carried out in 2022 showed that those sleeping on an incline experienced reduced snoring duration, fewer awakenings and a longer time spent in deep sleep (7).
A pile of pillows may help to prevent some of the causes of snoring;however, it can be difficult to comfortably achieve a reliable incline on a normal bed. Opting for an adjustable bed, however, can give you the freedom to raise the head end of your bed just enough to potentially relieve some of the symptoms of snoring and sleep apnoea.
3. Adjustable Beds for Any Time Comfort
While adjustable beds may have been originally designed for use by the elderly or infirm, the great levels of comfort they offer can benefit just about anyone, especially if you use your bed for much more than just sleeping in.
Recent research carried out in the US found that over 20% of 25 to 34 year olds and 17.5% of 35 to 44 year olds spend more than two hours a day watching television in bed(8). Meanwhile, many of us choose to read a book or scroll through social media in bed, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Not only do many of us use our beds as a place to take in the latest Netflix hit or catch up on news from our friends and relatives, for some people, particularly those living in smaller or shared homes, a bed doubles up as an all-day workspace. More Brits than ever now work from the comfort of our homes. Stats from the Office of National Statistics show that almost 50% of us stayed in to work during the COVID19 pandemic (9) and further research says that 85% of those pandemic home workers now favour a hybrid approach(some time spent in the office and some working at home(10). And when we don’t have to make the effort to put on a suit and travel? Well, it’s only too tempting to grab your laptop and run off a few emails without the hassle of the long commute to the desk downstairs.
Whatever you’re using your bed as – office, entertainment centre or communication hub – we’re pretty sure that any chiropractor would agree that slumping on a soft pillow for hours on end isn’t great news for your spine.
However, could choosing an electric bed with the option to create an inbuilt back rest at the touch of a button help? You know and we know that it’s not quite up there with an ergonomic office chair and correctly positioned desk, but it could really improve your comfort and the support your poor delicate spine gets compared to your current ‘workspace’.
4. The Best Adjustable Beds for Sleeping Together
The bedtime boffins at the Better Sleep Council are convinced that sleeping with a partner is good for you (11), helping to raise levels of happy chemical oxytocin in our bodies for relaxation and reduced anxiety. The Better Sleep Council also suggests that sleeping with a partner can even improve the quality of sleep we experience.
But if you sleep with a partner who snores, fidgets or simply needs a completely different sleeping arrangement, you might find it a bit difficult to agree. Perhaps you prefer to grab a spare duvet and mosey on down to the couch for an uninterrupted night away from your other half and, if you sleep with a snorer or a duvet hog, as some of the team here do, we can’t really blame you.
An adjustable bed might, at first glance, seem like a recipe for arguments. One of you lifting and lowering the head or foot of the bed while the other tries to sleep has all the hallmarks of a classic sitcom situation. But fear not, electric beds are actually far less disruptive than you might expect. As a matter of fact, a carefully chosen electric model may even help to solve some of those siesta stressors that are keeping at least one of you awake at night.
Ideal for co-sleepers, most adjustable beds, like the Tech Motion Plus Adjustable Divan, offer separately remote-controlled sides, meaning that you and your partner can adjust to your heart’s content without causing dead of night disruption. If you’re lucky enough to have the space, we recommend a split king or super king adjustable bed to make the most of individualised adjustment. All that extra space provides you with the separation you need for comfort as well as the option to adjust your side of the bed to perfectly suit you. This gives you plenty of undisrupted space to stretch out and minimises the issue of motion transfer caused by a partner’s movements at night.
5. A Mobility Bed for Independence
Tech Motion Adjustable Divan Bed Set
Adjustable or electric beds may be a great choice if you have a specific issue to address. Perhaps you’re bed bound while recovering from an illness or injury and need to be able to comfortably sit up in bed while you eat meals and greet your royal subjects. Maybe you have a bad back that requires extra support, circulatory problems or a sensitivity to pressure eased by being able to elevate your legs as you sleep. Or perhaps your sinus problems, indigestion, sleep apnoea or acid reflux is helped by sleeping on a gentle incline.
However, for many people an adjustable bed is much more than just an aid to health and comfort. For some elderly or disabled people, the right choice of bed may provide a little extra independence and dignity. It could even make the difference between needing daily help to get up and enjoying the freedom to rise and shine at their leisure.
Developed based on the profiling beds used in healthcare settings, adjustable beds can help people with limited mobility or muscle weakness to get into and out of bed each dayby raising the user from lying down to a seated position ready to stand. An electric bed also, of course, allows for the adjustment of your sleeping surface for improved support, a must for elderly users who can be more prone to back and joint pain and lower leg complaints.
And when you look at it like that it’s not just the user of an electric bed that benefits. A practical, supportive adjustable bed may also give relatives the peace of mind they need that their loved one has the tools they need for safer independent living.
Choosing an Adjustable Bed
When opting for an adjustable bed there can be quite a lot to consider. With an increasingly impressive list of functions on offer, from basic head end adjustment to Bluetooth control to built-in USB chargers and even temperature responsive technology (as found in our own Pocket Memory Motion Divan), where an Earth do you even start?
Thank goodness for Bensons for Beds sleep experts. Our team are ready and waiting to help you find your bed, your way using our advanced SleepPro technology.
Whether you call into your local Bensons store or ring us on 0808 144 6160, we can help take the stress out of choosing your adjustable.
Sources:
- Electric profiling beds (hse.gov.uk)
- Heartburn and acid reflux - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Snoring - Neurologic Disorders - MSD Manual Professional Edition (msdmanuals.com)
- Deviated Septum: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments (healthline.com
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sleep-apnoea/
- The influence of head-of-bed elevation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea - PMC (nih.gov)
- Sleeping in an Inclined Position to Reduce Snoring and Improve Sleep: In-home Product Intervention Study - PMC (nih.gov)
- • Daily viewing streamed video content in bed in the U.S. by age 2019 | Statista
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/coronavirusandhomeworkingintheuk/april2020
- https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/businessandindividualattitudestowardsthefutureofhomeworkinguk/apriltomay2021
- https://bettersleep.org/blog/the-benefits-of-sleeping-together/