High rebound mattress toppers facilitate core body temperature drop and enhance deep sleep in the initial phase of nocturnal sleep.

Shintaro Chiba,Mari Matsumura,Motohiro Ozone,Sunao Uchida,Seiji Nishino,Tomoko Yagi,Masashi Ganeko,Hirofumi Sekiguchi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0197521

Abstract

Recently, several new materials for mattresses have been introduced. Although some of these, such as low rebound (pressure-absorbing/memory foam) and high rebound mattresses have fairly different characteristics, effects of these mattresses on sleep have never been scientifically evaluated. In the current study, we have evaluated effects of a high rebound mattress topper [HR] on sleep and its associated physiology, and the effects were compared to those of a low rebound mattress toppers (LR) in healthy young (n = 10) and old (n = 20) adult males with a randomized, single-blind, cross over design. We found that sleeping with HR compared to LR induced a larger decline in core body temperature (CBT) in the initial phase of nocturnal sleep both in young (minimum CBT: 36.05 vs 36.35°C) and old (minimum CBT: 36.47 vs. 36.55°C) subjects, and declines in the CBT were associated with increases in deep sleep/delta power (+27.8% in young and +24.7% in old subjects between 11:00–01:00). We also found significantly smaller muscle activities during roll over motions with HR (-53.0 to -66.1%, depending on the muscle) during a separate daytime testing. These results suggest that sleeping with HR in comparison to with LR, may facilitate restorative sleep at the initial phase of sleep.

Highlights

Sleep is fragile and can be affected intrinsically and by the environment
We have evaluated effects of a high rebound mattress topper [HR] on sleep and its associated physiology, and the effects were compared to those of a low rebound mattress topper (LR) with a randomized single-blind cross over design
We evaluated muscle activities that are needed to generate a roll over motion on HR and LR during the daytime in eight healthy young males

Summary

Introduction

Sleep is fragile and can be affected intrinsically and by the environment. While an unpleasant sleep environment negatively affects the quality of sleep, increasing the sleep quality by choosing the optimal sleep environment has not garnered enough attention. Since significant difference in core body temperature was observed in the first half of the recording time, we analyzed the PSG data for each 2-hour time bin, from 23:00 to 01:00, Table 1.

Results

Conclusion