Does your child attend sleepovers? Do you host sleepovers for your child’s friends? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cozy air mattress bed for kids sized just right for a child and which your kids will love and their friends will envy? If you answered yes to any of those, you owe it to yourself to check out the Gentle Air Dr Watters Childs Portable Overnight Bed

We’re generally not too big on product reviews here, but I’ve been a big advocate of convenience and comfort since beginning this blog and this is one air mattress bed with a child’s comfort (and a parent’s convenience) specifically in mind. So what makes the Gentle Air bed so desirable?

The Gentle Air Dr Watters Childs Portable Overnight Bed offers several convenient features. For one, it is easy and quick to inflate with the included pump. Inflation times vary (particularly if you let your child do the inflating) but average around 1 minute from flat to full inflation. The bed deflates in around 15 seconds.

Another stand-out for this air mattress bed is the raised side design. Not only does it prevent your child rolling out of bed, there’s no concern of bed wetting accidents leaking out onto the floor.

Finally, the Gentle Air Dr Watters Childs Portable Overnight Bed is sized right for kids resulting in increased portability and it comes with an included backpack allowing your child to carry his own cool bed to his sleepover.

On the down side, this air mattress is pricier than many but then most air beds aren’t designed specifically with a combination of children, convenience, portability and comfort all in mind.

For sleepovers, camping, vacations and travel of all kind, the Gentle Air Dr Watters Childs Portable Overnight Bed is a great choice at the price. Don’t take our word for it. As of this writing there are 19 customer reviews you can read over at Amazon by clicking the product image or links in this post. When it comes to air mattress beds, you’re always best served by a good sampling of customer reviews and a near universal positive impression by nearly a score of parents who have tried this product should set your mind at ease.

What? A site about air mattress beds not supporting them as a cure for back pain? Well, I’m being a bit tricky. CAN air mattresses help with back pain? Sure. WILL they ALWAYS? No. That’s the rub. It isn’t a matter of whether or not I feel they can offer a solution (one very well might), it’s that I’m not going to commit my integrity (or your money) to a solution that might not be the right one for you.

Any mattress that, with absolute conviction, sells itself as a definite cure for back pain is suckering its consumers out of their hard earned dollars. The truth is that a flat board with a half inch of foam on it might be the right cure for you. I simply have no way of knowing, and neither do air mattress bed manufacturers, what the right requirements are for you specifically. What they can tell you with reasonable honesty is how independent testing has rated their beds relative to other styles and in that regard, air mattress beds do fairly well.

Air mattress beds such as the Sleep Number bed often are a fantastic solution for back pain relief. The adjustable firmness alone is a major factor behind that. My own back problems were alleviated after switching mattresses. But, I don’t attribute my success to the mattress so much as an ancient Chinese secret I’ll reveal later. In some cases, however, a memory-foam mattress may be the better solution for your back problems. In others, a particular brand of innerspring mattress is the right solution. What’s the common theme here? No one brand or style of mattress is going to be the universal solution for all people.

If you do suffer from chronic back pain you can begin your search for the right mattress for you by applying some of the knowledge you’ve hopefully learned here. Consult with your physician and if he/she is honest, you’ll receive some simple wisdom such as “some people report improvement from sleeping on air mattresses” or “your condition might be best served by a very firm mattress.” That information being about as useful as what I’ve offered so far in this post, let’s get to the real best solution for you.

The best thing for your back is sleeping on a mattress that affords good back support, promotes healthy curvature of the spine and is very comfortable. If you can find all three in a single mattress, you’ve probably found the mattress that will help you with your back pain. The last item, comfort, is very important, though. The bottom line is that no amount of ergonomic engineering will matter to you if you can’t get comfortable enough to sleep well.

The hard part here is that finding the right mattress to alleviate back pain isn’t like finding which candy bar you like best. Mattresses are expensive. In finding a mattress that’s good for your back, take several minutes to test each model in the store. This will give you at least a glimpse into what you can expect when you get the mattress home. More importantly, though, ensure that your purchase comes with a generous satisfaction guarantee and return policy. You won’t know until you’ve invested a week or two sleeping on your new mattress if it is the right one for you. Select Comfort offered a one month trial period at one point (and may still) on their Sleep Number bed which, to me, was a major selling point. Try to find something similar in your purchase.

So, the answer to your question is that, yes, air mattress beds of varying styles can do wonders for back pain relief but there are no guarantees. Your best bet is to test a variety of mattresses and ensure you are protected should you later determine the mattress is not right for you.

Oh, and that ancient Chinese secret for curing back pain? Stop carrying your wallet in your back pocket. I did, found relief in weeks and I haven’t had back problems in the 5 years since.

First let’s introduce the study on pressure point comparisons. It was independently conducted. The mattresses compared were similarly priced but different designs. The Sleep Number Bed was compared to a Tempur-Pedic ® “space-foam” mattress and a high-end innerspring mattress. The manufacturer and identity of each mattress was hidden from the subjects. 66 subjects in all participated in the study and were divided about evenly between women and men. Finally, the average pressure exerted by the mattresses on each participant’s body was measured using pressure mapping equipment in both back and side sleep positions.

The results of the pressure point study revealed 94% of the participants had significantly lower average pressure levels when lying on their side. 86% had significantly lower average pressure levels when lying on their backs. It’s important to note that those percentages are the results gathered from the pressure mapping equipment, not just the subjective opinions of the participants.

The pressure map study isn’t the only study to result in favorable marks for the Sleep Number Bed. A study performed at the Stanford University Sleep Research Center resulted in surprising results. This study compared the Sleep Number Bed to a high quality innerspring mattress. Average participants fell asleep in half the time, spent more time in deep (restful) sleep and reported better sleep quality.

Numerically, the Stanford study breaks down like this.

• 67% experienced less daytime sleepiness
• 77% discovered increased energy.
• 87% fell asleep faster and experienced better sleep.
• 89% reported improved sleep quality.
• 90% reported reduced aches and pains.
• 93% experienced back pain relief

While the experiences noted by participants above are subjective (based on a participant’s opinion rather than a measurable metric) they are supported by objective metrics as well such as decreased amount of light sleep states, increased REM sleep and slow wave sleep. The pressure map studies noted earlier also support the subjective comments associated with reduced aches and pains.

Select Comfort^TM, the makers of the Sleep Number bed, also offer data from tests performed at the Duke University Medical Center Sleep Disorders Center which focused on both subjective and objective measures of sleep in comparing the Sleep Number bed with the participant’s own beds. Results showed the Sleep Number bed provided a more efficient sleep experience and that participants spent an average of 15 minutes less time in bed each night on. That last part is notable given that, despite needing less sleep, study subjects reported feeling less fatigued and more rested after sleeping.

Finally, a study performed at the University of Memphis focusing on spinal curvature and displacement concluded that the Sleep Number bed “gave the best comfort and spinal alignments to the subjects tested.”

In a mix of studies covering both objective and subjective metrics, test subjects time and again show a preference for the Sleep Number Mattress. With loads on pressure points more forgivingly distributed, independent adjustable firmness and exceptional construction, these air mattress beds shine. But what does all this data really mean to you, the consumer.

Overall, reduction in pressure point discomfort means less tossing, turning and discomfort during sleep. This means you spend more time getting healthy, restful sleep. The importance of this can’t be overstated. Not only does this mean you’ll endure less joint discomfort, aches and pains, but an air mattress bed’s benefit in this regard is that it also facilitates important stages of healthy sleep.

REM sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep occurs an average of 4-5 times per night in increasing duration. While the purpose of REM sleep is not completely understood, it has been established as critically important to our health and may be linked to learning and memory. While we may not fully understand the need for REM sleep, our bodies do. If we do not receive enough of it, we accumulate a sleep-debt which our body will make up for with prolonged periods of REM sleep at the next opportunity.

Slow wave sleep or SWS is the deepest level of sleep. If you’ve ever woken up feeling terribly groggy and have difficulty focusing and thinking, you probably were pulled out of slow wave sleep. As with REM, those deprived of SWS will experience a sharp increase in duration of this sleep period at the next available opportunity. This supports the thinking that the body knows what it needs and that slow wave sleep is an important part of healthy sleep.

That air mattress beds in general can promote improvements in these areas may often be a subjective claim. Studies performed on Select Comfort’s Sleep Number beds, though, lend credibility to the assumption that, at least in this case, an air mattress bed can truly make a difference in the health and life of its users.

For all the consequences of poor sleep, the question still remains how an air mattress bed can help prevent those problems in the first place. For that, it helps to look at the causes of poor quality sleep and it can almost all be summed up in one word - discomfort. But, there are several factors that go into causing discomfort.

• Pressure points
• Excessive Firmness / Softness
• Lack of Support

For an air mattress, foam mattress or innerspring mattress to provide quality, restful sleep, a careful balance between all three of those listed variables must be met. With that in mind, let’s analyze each in turn.

Pressure points are parts of your body subject to increased pressure and discomfort as you sleep. Were we all shaped like rectangles, we could sleep comfortably on a wooden table. Owing to all the protrusions and curves of our bodies, however, certain parts tend to absorb more pressure than others when we’re sleeping. Notable pressure points are your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and head. The less forgiving a mattress on these pressure points, the less restful your sleep will be. Frequent tossing and turning in an effort to find a comfortable position is a common symptom of a mattress that is causing pressure point problems.

The right firmness or softness is a particularly subjective variable. What feels perfect for one person may be entirely too firm or soft for another. This can make purchasing an air mattress bed or any other kind of mattress a real challenge for couples as it’s rare for two people to share the same preference. Generally speaking, either one party suffers while the other sleeps comfortably or a couple will compromise and buy a mattress that meets in the middle and then neither gets the benefit of true comfort.

Contrary to what you might believe, support and firmness are not the same things. For those with bad backs, a firm mattress may or may not be the right solution. Generally, it isn’t the firmness that helps, it’s how the mattress supports the contours of your back which matters. Though closely related to the pressure point accommodation and firmness of a mattress, you should approach the purchase of a mattress for back support and health with support as an entirely independent thought. Just because a mattress doesn’t aggravate pressure points does not mean it will help you with your bad back.

It is with combinations and considerations of the variables above that one finds their perfect air mattress bed and the Sleep Number Bed shines in all three categories. In fact it does supremely well in the element of firmness and softness even for a couple sharing a bed as it allows for independent adjustment. Independent studies of the Sleep Number Bed compared to innerspring mattresses and even foam mattresses such as the Tempur-Pedic mattress revealed surprising results in favor of the Sleep Number Bed. As this post has, again, grown long, I’ll extend my intended 2 part post into a 3 part post and elaborate further. Check back soon. You’ll be surprised at the results.

In my post on Select Comfort and Sleep Number Beds, I promised I’d come back to the health benefits of air bed mattresses and, so, here we are with a question stemming from that statement. What specifically are we concerned with when we ask about health and air mattresses?

When you lay out all the negatives associated with poor sleep habits, it becomes clear that good sleep and health are intricately intertwined. Consider just a few of the health and life problems attributable to lacking or poor quality sleep:

• Headaches
• Weight gain
• Irritability
• Diminished sexual performance
• Erectile dysfunction
• Poor performance at work or school
• Poor concentration and diminished cognitive function and recall
• Stress
• Depression

Now for all the items on that list, the last two are key. From stress and depression spring any number of additional ailments. By that I mean that very real illnesses can result from either stress or depression.

If you look at a mattresse’s contribution to a good night of sleep as the first link in a chain of events, the affect that mattress has on your sleep can have a significant impact on your health and happiness. A poor mattress as the first link in the chain leads to poor sleep in the second link. Get to the third link and perhaps you find yourself performing poorly at work. Already stressed by poor sleep, your stress levels are further compromised by a boss who is unsatisfied with your performance. Already irritable from poor sleep and work, your job performance further compromises patience and you find yourself yelling at your wife or children for the littlest things. I could take this chain all the way out to a subsequent divorce if I wanted to.

While the example above may be a bit extreme, it isn’t outside of reason nor is the cause (poor sleep) something to trivialize or ignore. How your day starts (or, more accurately, your night of sleep ends) does have a very real impact on your entire day. The link between sleep and quality of life is a very real, well established scientific fact.

As this post is getting a bit long, we’ll make this a two-parter. I’ll elaborate on the elements of quality sleep a bit here and then we’ll get into specifics in our next post. So we’ve defined the ways in which poor sleep can hinder your quality of life but what can a good mattress do to alleviate these problems?

As measured in a Stanford University study, one element of “good” sleep is how fast an individual dozes off on a particular mattress. Think of this as the tossing and turning quality of a bed where, due either to poor comfort or a brain that simply won’t shut off, the subject has difficulty falling asleep.

Additional metrics under quality of sleep cover several elements such as tossing and turning, achievement of REM sleep, time asleep without waking, over-all comfort and restfulness.

Finally we have the physical elements which include back pain, neck tension, joint pain, hip pain and discomfort in pressure points (shoulders, hips, buttocks, etc).

 We’ll continue this post in a later part 2 segment that will go into a bit of detail on how air bed mattresses stack up to conventional mattresses relative to the metrics listed above. Stop back soon for the continuation. Sleep well and sweet dreams in the meantime.

Right out of the gate you might have some concerns. For example, I owned a water bed in high school. I woke up one night, sopping wet and freezing after my dog punctured a hole in it. It was high time I got rid of the thing anyway (the bed, not the dog). So couldn’t the same happen with air mattresses for dogs? Fortunately, claw proof air beds for dogs will ensure you never suffer a puncture. 

With a variety of features available, air mattresses for dogs are a great consideration. Non-slip rubber feet, raised head-rests, warm and comfortable slip covers and adjustable firmness are just a few of the available options but there are a few things you might not have thought of in considering an air mattress bed for your dog. 

Just like us, dogs (particularly old dogs) can suffer aches and pains in their joints. Air mattress beds can provide welcome comfort by eliminating pressure points that would aggravate sensitive joints. If your dog has a firmness preference, simply add or remove some air. 

Another welcome benefit to canine air mattress beds is that they do not absorb odors. Where a foam dog bed can endure a few cycles with just its covers being washed or changed, eventually odors will penetrate to the foam insert. No amount of washing will remedy the problem. Washing or replacing the slip cover on a dog’s air mattress bed, however, will completely solve any odor problems. The vinyl air mattress will not absorb odors. 

So if your pooch is worth pampering (aren’t they all) or in need of a therapeutic bed, consider doing for them what you might well do for yourself! A variety of air mattress beds for dogs are out there for all breeds and sizes and your pup will certainly appreciate the gift.

Having disassociated myself as a paid advertiser for the product, I do want to give it more of a mention here simply because of my own experiences and the experiences of others I’ve interviewed. Please remember that I’ll only offer testimonials if I have personal experience to draw on or the experiences of trusted individuals who have their own personal experiences.  In the case of the Sleep Number bed, I can offer both.

First a bit about the Sleep Number bed by Select comfort. This mattress is an air filled bed with independent comfort chambers. It is offered in several models numbered 3000-9000 (as of this writing) and the company offers a variety of additional products including mattress pads and a build-your-own pillow option. What distinguishes the Sleep Number bed from offerings by many other companies, however, is the independently adjustable firmness. This means that a couple can independently adjust the firmness on their side of the bed without affecting the other side.

My personal experience with a Sleep Number bed was at a bed and breakfast near the Appalachian mountain range.  My wife (then girlfriend) and I enjoyed a romantic getaway which included such exciting events as hillbilly hospitality, entirely too much antiquing, the company of a drooling, flatulent bull dog and the best night of sleep I can remember having.

One could argue it was the mountain air, the escape from my daily grind or the miles of walking from one store full of old stuff to another, but none of that explains waking up without any of the stiffness and soreness I’m accustomed to at home. When I marveled at the quality of sleep I’d experienced, the proprietor smiled knowingly and explained I could thank Sleep Number for the experience. Over a plate of the best eggs and bacon I’d enjoyed in years, I pointed out she might want to let folks know in advance and direct them to the controllers which we’d spent the night completely oblivious of.

In addition to my own experience, a close friend and a colleague I work with both own Sleep Number beds and swear by them. After more than a year of ownership, they are each independently passionate about their beds. Says one, “If my bed could cook, take care of the kids and it weren’t illegal to marry inanimate objects, I’d divorce my wife tomorrow and get hitched to my Sleep Number.” The other, who has owned his Select Comfort bed for just over a year proclaimed, “It’s better than any other bed I’ve ever slept in or tested. Doesn’t feel at all like an air mattress or anything. Feels like a real bed with a super cozy pillow-top cover only better.”

Each of these owners professes better sleep, less aches and pains, better dreams, greater refreshment in the mornings and an overall improvement in their quality of life for no other reason than the purchase of a bed. That’s one heck of an endorsement.

Are other everyday air mattress models as good? I couldn’t say without having one for comparison but the Sleep Number bed isn’t the only air mattress bed with independent “coils” and a well researched and constructed framing system. Select Comfort has to share the limelight with other air mattress models when it comes to the potential for improving sleep quality and comfort because reasonable construction, a good mattress pad and the pressure point avoiding nature of air are what make these mattresses so good for you. They do get individual credit for their sleep number adjustment feature, though. It’s a system they are duly credited with perfecting.

As promised, there will be more on the health benefits in a subsequent post.

It’s important to recognize here that there are air mattresses and then there are air mattresses. The temporary raised or double air mattress you subject your guests to is one thing. In the short term, these are great alternatives to sleeping on the hard floor or on a lumpy old couch that offers little to nothing in the way of back support. But, over the long term, they do leave something to be desired. For everyday use you should consider a permanent, high-end air mattress designed with that purpose in mind such as the Sleep Number bed by Select Comfort.

Everyday air mattress beds have a great deal more in design, construction and comfort to offer over their convenient temporary cousins.  Unfortunately, they are also notably more expensive. That price tradeoff for full time use is, in my estimation, money well spent for several reasons.

A quality everyday air mattress is designed with a frame in mind which helps limit distortions due to weight distribution (think of a balloon in a box). This makes them decidedly friendlier to you tossing-and-turning types who’d otherwise roll off an ordinary air mattress.

In addition to better conformity, everyday air mattress beds also improve on comfort. From the more mundane but luxurious addition of mattress pads in any number of thicknesses to the more exotic features of independent firmness adjustment offered in Select Comfort’s Sleep Number models, everyday air mattresses definitely warrant the increased expense over their less ambitious cousins.

One final note I’ll expand on in my next post - multiple studies seem to support the finding that switching to an air mattress bed for your everyday use could result in dramatic improvements in sleep, quality of sleep and back pain relief.  If that doesn’t have you considering switching out that old spring torture device you’ve been enduring for years then you might just be a glutton for punishment.

Fortunately, you can turn that wonderful space into luxurious sleeping accommodations for a surprisingly low price. Air mattress beds made specifically with the contours and space of truck beds, minivans and SUVs in mind are readily available. 

If you’re looking for an air mattress bed for your pickup truck bed, consider models that accommodate the wheel wells. Hourglass shapes with good abrasion resistance, luxurious 8 inch depth and cold weather resistant features are your prime consideration. These work extremely well with truck and SUV tents which allow you to either cover the bed of your truck or turn your SUV into an extra room! 

Any good source on SUV, minivan and Truck mattress beds should provide a list of applicable vehicle models for the mattress you are considering. If they don’t, make sure you read the size specs on the air bed you are considering and compare them to the interior specs of your truck bed. Remember that some air mattresses allow for the tailgate to be down in their sizing. 

Where automotive camping has often been the domain of RVs, a good truck air mattress bed can have you living in near equal comfort for just a fraction of the cost of those houses on wheels. They will allow you to combine comfort and convenience in any outing.

Whether dwarfed in a sea of behemoth RVs or standing humbly by the family minivan, tents packed with family and a few amenities are all the rage. This method of semi-roughing-it allows for more luxuries than could be packed on backs and hauled into the wilderness but still affords the benefit of proximity to the wild. Campers simply park at the campground, setup the tent (or tents), plug their tiny tvs into campsite outlets and then do in day hikes what your real Grizzly Adams types would spend all weekend accomplishing. 

This kind of excursion lends itself supremely well to the inclusion of less portable but infinitely more comfortable air mattress beds. As your gear gets packed in your car or RV rather than on your back during transition, stowed size isn’t as big a concern. That allows for greater focus on comfort rather than convenience. 

When picking air mattress beds with camping in mind, start with 4” thick models as your absolute low end thickness (this is also the absolute thickest you should consider for backpacking). Coleman offers a self inflating 4” air mattress bed but as noted before, even the self inflating models benefit from a few extra puffs of air to be truly comfortable. 

Thicker models (+/- 8”, 9” or 10”) are your real luxury options. If you’ll be spending your nights at a campground, pick air mattress beds with inflation and air retention in mind. The literature should mention features like double lock valves or other gimmicks designed to retain air once inflated. 

Another important consideration is the inflation system. High-flow manual foot pumps are a great feature as you won’t always have electricity available to use an electric pump. Your model would ideally accommodate both manual and electric inflation options. If electric, try to get a system that includes a cigarette lighter adapter to allow you to inflate it from your vehicle. 

Finally, there are a variety of comfort options to consider. Independent air coils or other features such as heat retaining or no-slip suede surfaces are nice. Just remember that suede doesn’t respond well to moisture and you’re likely to encounter plenty of that in the great outdoors. 

Air mattress beds for camping are one of the great creations no family camping trip should do without. The fresh outdoor air lends itself to a great night of sleep but removing yourself from the cold, hard ground and floating on a cushion of air ensures that you’ll be well rested and ready to face a great day of fishing, hiking and exploring.