Waterbeds (and mattresses)

A water mattress, or a water bed, is often seen as exotic or extravagant, but in fact this kind of bed can offer good orthopedic characteristics.

Water beds naturally take on the shape of the human body and contour to the geometry of the individual sleeper. Many who use them describe an experience which they analogise with weightlessness, or a floating sensation.

Water beds were providing a body moulding mattress long before the advent of memory and latex foams and the same claims of restful sleep and the relieving of certain pain symptoms apply to water mattresses.

With an association of luxury, water beds are available in many shapes and styles from a regular double or king size, to a fully circular unit. Water beds also come with hard or soft sides and some stylish mattresses project outward from the body support of the bed in an almost minimalistic way.

Do waterbeds constantly move

Contrary to popular myth, you cannot feel sea sick when on a water bed and the rocking (or wave motion), which many wrongly assume occurs during movement in all water beds, can be eliminated.

There are also a range of mattress classifications that relate directly to the amount of movement that the water motion creates within the mattress. These classifications range from “free flow” where there is a comparatively high level of movement before the bed settles (several seconds), to “motionless” and “fully stabilised”, where the movement is barely noticeable. This is achieved through the incorporation of baffles within the mattress that absorb the energy and prevent noticeable movement. Similar baffles can also be used to separate the sleeping areas in double beds so that one sleeper’s movement is independent of the others.

The top of the range water beds have thermostatically controlled heaters that enable a constant temperature to be maintained, ensuring that the bed remains cool in summer and warm in winter.

Water mattresses can be bought independently of water beds and existing frames can often be adapted to take a water mattress.

Life expectancy and maintenance

Water bed mattresses can last for 15 to 20 years without any sagging, permanent impressions or lumpiness. For as long as the mattress functions, it will behave as if it were brand new.

Naturally water beds have a strong and durable frame and the addition of a water conditioner is required.

Waterbed sheets

A final point to be aware of with waterbeds is that they tend to be about 10 inches longer than regular beds. This means that it is normally necessary to have special waterbed sheets for the mattress. It is also impossible to tuck sheets under the mattress, so waterbed sheets are often in fitted and top pairs wher the two sheets are connected either or at the bottom or the middle of the sheet.

It is also possible to buy waterbed sheet that have special fittings that attach to the frame of the bed to keep the sheets in place.