The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-05-23

a day at the Mellon Institute in
Pittsburgh while the Simmons in
vestigation was going on. The re-
suits Of that investigation showed
that sleeper made rs to 60 major
changes Of position during the
night on ordinary mattresses, but
no study was made to show wheth-
er fewer stirs were made on more
scientific mattresses than on or
binary ones.
DR.. Mattison got to thinking,
and he was inspired by two con-
siderations. One was that in the
United States there are consumed
from 35 to 70 thousand pounds of
hypnotic drugs like luminal. This
would indicate that there is some
thing the matter with the comfort
of our beds. The other was that
millions Of people are taking
treatment to improve their pos
ture, which might be improved, he
surmised, by the use Of better
sleeping equipment.
Regional Resistanees /
After several years WORK he
has formulated a principle, which
is regional spring resistances pro-
portional to regional differences
in recumbent body weight. By ar
ranging three scales with ham,
mocks in them and putting differ
ent people of varying bodily build
in these sings, he found that the
central scale bore twice as much
weight as either Of the other two.
Mattresses, he concluded, should
be more solidly constructed in the
middle than they are to avoid the
inevitable sagging. Mattresses
should be hard in some places and
soft in others. ii
He has been able to persuade
mattress manufacturers of the
correctness Of his views and many
such mattresses are available.
Undoubtedly it seems reason
able that such scientifically de-
signed mattresses will tend to
make for better posture and by
that means improve general
health. 4
The preference many people
have for a wide bed is probably
because on a wide bed they can
subconsciously indulge in squirm-
ing and turning in an effort to get
a just distribution of weights.
There is no reason why we should
not sleep well in a narrow bed on
properly designed mattress.
Since mattresses are supposed to
be soft, DR.. Madison suggests that
their tendency to sag with age be
corrected with pillows, folded
blankets, or even with wood. But
correctly designed new mattress
made on scientific principles is
better. As a matter of fact, soft
mattresses are not necessarily the
best. 1t has been found that people
who sleep on the bare floor make
a smaller number of turnings and
position adjustments during the
night than those on soft mat
tresses.
We have spent a good deal Of
thought and time in designing
scientific shoes which bear the
weight of the body during the day.
time. Why not spend some of the
same effort to design a scientific
apparatus to support our weight
at night?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
R. E.:-"Please advise me il
constant, scorching hot baths,
without being followed by cold,
have any bad effects on the skim.
Answer-I think they do in ell
derby people. They make the skin
dry, remove the grease, and cause
itching. Unless used for some
definite purpose, l am not in favor
of what you describe as constant,
scorching hot baths.
A. NJ. P: please tell me
whether lemon juice and epson
salts is good for high blood pres
sure"
Answer--I do not believe they
are of any value. There has been
a recent rediscovery Of the use of
peppermint lozenges for high
blood pressure. know Of woman
whose mother wrote her from
England to use peppermint lozen-
ges and she has one in her mouth
all the time, and all the symptoms
Of nigh blood pressure which she =
had have disappeared.