New Bed, Better Sleep?

I’ve struggled with sleep for what seems like my whole life. In my teenage years, it would take me a couple hours to fall asleep at times. I didn’t know then, but it was insomnia. I had a problem with turning off my brain at night. Not only would it take a long time to fall asleep, I would also toss and turn throughout the night. I woke up feeling tired no matter how much total time of slumber I had, which would last the entire day.

While I still have problems tossing and turning at night, thankfully, I can usually fall asleep within 10 minutes of hitting the pillow. Sleep is tricky, as there are several internal and external factors that can negatively impact the quantity and quality of sleep. However, in this post, I’ll be tackling one piece of the puzzle by showing how a new bed can impact the quality of sleep.

First Bed Purchase

Throughout my entire life, I slept on below $200 mattresses from water, innerspring, hybrid, and foam from IKEA. Who thought water beds were a good idea? The foam mattress from IKEA was probably my favorite, but I was also in college, and happy to just have something to sleep on. After graduating in 2018, and moving into a new apartment, my partner and I decided to make our first big purchase, a Purple mattress.

We were hesitant on purchasing a bed in a box, as it seemed odd at the time. However, the reviews were solid, and it seemed like the bed in a box companies’ rate just as well when it comes to comfort and durability. For the first 6 months, the bed worked out well, but it took a long time to get used to sleeping on a grid of flexible rubber. After 6 months, things seemed to go downhill, and I began to wake up frequently, toss and turn, and would wake up so stiff, it was hard to breathe in the mornings. Morning stretches helped, but I was always waking up with the same feeling. It was time to start mattress shopping again.

Second Bed Purchase

I’ve been interested in Tempur-Pedic for over 20 years. It was hard not to be amazed watching the commercials of someone jumping on a Tempur-Pedic bed next to a glass of red wine without it spilling. Tempur-Pedic is a huge investment with the cheaper models starting out at over $2,000, but I was desperate to get better sleep, and good sleep is priceless. After spending a couple hours at a flagship store testing out different models and having a couple drinks at a nearby brewery for liquid courage, my partner and I decided to buy the ProAdapt Medium model. The investment was painful, but using my Whoop device, the first week of sleep data showed promising results on what a new bed can do to sleep.

First Week Sleep Readings with the Tempur-Pedic Mattress Using Whoop

Recovery

Every day after the previous night of sleep, Whoop will calculate recovery based on heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and hours of sleep. Illness, stress, physical exercise, and many other factors can affect the daily rating. This metric is a good indicator on how well your body is adapting to the daily stressors of life, good or bad.

I tend to be in the yellow range, but in the first week with the new bed, I averaged 77%, up 38% the previous week. Staying in the green is the goal, so I was happy with 6 days of green recovery!

Hours of Sleep and Overall Sleep Performance

Every time I look at the recommended hours of sleep on the Whoop app, it always seems unobtainable, as the hours needed is near the 9-hour mark. I wish I had the time and power to sleep that long! I’ll take the 9% increase in hours of sleep and 15% increase in overall sleep performance from the previous week though.

Final Thoughts

While I didn’t notice any big difference mentally or physically from the first week in a new Tempur-Pedic mattress, it’s hard to ignore the sudden increase in quality of sleep. Whether it’s coincidence or not, I’ll be keeping an eye on these metrics daily, and enjoying the new bed.

I don’t get paid to talk about Whoop, but I have been a user for over 2 years, and slightly addicted to reviewing the data it provides every day. If you would like me to go deeper with any of the metrics and how I use the band, please comment down below!