Most Interesting Facts About Beds: Our Top List
From mind-blowing to head-scratching, check out our top 8 most interesting facts about beds.
The most interesting facts about beds that will surprise you. Beds have come a long way since humans first started using them to (attempt to) get a good night’s rest. Beds have been reinvented time and again with different mattresses, materials and technology. You might think you know your bed, after all, you spend a third of your life on it. Here’s our top eight most interesting facts about beds.
The Top 8 Most Interesting Facts About Beds
Interesting Fact #1: King Tut was buried on a gold covered bed.
King Tutankhamun ruled Egypt from around 1334 to 1325 B.C. Though he was just a child when he took the throne, he seemed to have a thing for beds. When archaeologists excavated his tomb in 1922, they discovered a gold covered bed with an intact base of woven string. Experts believe this bed was specifically made for King Tut’s funeral. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the dead were simply sleeping and would awake ‘reborn’ in the afterlife.
Interesting Fact #2: The Japanese don’t sleep on beds.
Most Japanese people sleep on the floor, instead of western-style beds. The Japanese have been doing this since the 10th century and it has become a proud part of their culture. They typically sleep on a tatami, a mat made of rice straw that feels like a thin yoga mat. Some houses have portable tatami mats that they fold away during the day. Others have tatami flooring permanently installed in their bedroom. Furthermore, older Japanese homes have their entire house made up of tatami floors. Many Japanese households will put a futon, known as a Japanese bedroll, over their tatami for added cushion.
Interesting Fact #3: NASA invented memory foam.
Back in the 1960’s, NASA was looking for a way to improve the probability of its passengers surviving a crash. So an aeronautical engineer named Charles Yost created an open-cell, polymeric “memory” foam material. This material was able to absorb unusually high energy while still staying soft and pliable. Furthermore, the foam had the ability to evenly distribute body weight and pressure, making it more comfortable for long flights. Memory foam in mattresses didn’t become widely available for beds until Tempur-Pedic came on the scene in the early 90’s.
Interesting Fact #4: It’s illegal to purchase a mattress on Sundays in Washington.
There’s interesting facts about beds, and there’s just plain weird. In Washington state, it is illegal to buy or sell mattresses on Sunday. It’s not quite clear what the origin of this law is but it doesn’t seem to be strictly enforced. Mattresses shouldn’t feel too bad, because it’s also illegal to buy meat on Sundays as well. Thankfully, you can come to Sit ‘n Sleep any day of the week to buy your mattress.
Interesting Fact #5: TV programs wouldn’t show couples in the same bed in the 1960’s.
Television sure has come a long way since the days of Lucy and Ricky. In the 1960’s, TV didn’t show married couples in the same bed. For a long time, shows like I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show showcased twin beds separated. This was because a set of rules known as the Hays Code. heavily censored the TV and film industry. The Brady Brunch eventually made sleeping in the same bed popular in 1969.
Interesting Fact #6: Pillows weren’t always soft.
Pillows originated in 7,000 BC in Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq. But these weren’t the fluffy pillows filled with feathers. The original pillows were hard and carved from stone. It may not sound fancy, but at the the time the number of pillows you had symbolized your wealth and importance. We don’t have any carved from stone, but we do have plenty of pillows to choose from that are firm, plush, and everything in between.
Interesting Fact #7: A typical mattress can have up to 10 million dust mites.
Dust mites are microscopic little bugs that feed on dead skin cells. Because of this, they love to live on mattresses, where we shed about 1/5 ounce of dead skin each week. A typical mattress can have anywhere between 100,000 to 10 million dust mites inside. Pretty gross. This is part of the reason it’s important to switch out your mattress every eight years. It’s also why you should invest in a mattress protector, to help keep your mattress clean on prolong the life of it.
Interesting Fact #8: The earliest human beds were found in South Africa.
A team of archaeologists claimed to have found the earliest known “mattresses” in South Africa, dated about 77,000 years ago. The team discovered one-centimeter thick swaths of plant remains, including stems and leaves. Most of them covered at least 32 square feet. Even more interesting, the mattresses contained leaves from the Cape laurel plant. These plants contain several chemical compounds that can kill insects. It’s possible that early humans protected themselves against mosquitoes carrying malaria with this plant.