Support pillows and mattresses for body alignment

Abstract

A pillow used with a mattress that efficiently provides low pressure and alignment to achieve restful and less fragmented sleep. The mattress supports a recumbent body. The pillow aligns the head and neck and acts with the mattress for body alignment. The mattress comprises a composite and a cover encapsulating the composite. The composite includes a performance layer and a core layer. The performance layer includes a shoulder section, a thoracic section and a hip section for location at different longitudinal positions corresponding to the shoulder region, the thoracic region and the hip region of the recumbent body. The shoulder section, the thoracic section and the hip section have different displacement parameters to match the body displacements in the shoulder region, the thoracic region, and the hip region for alignment of the body with low body pressure. A core layer supports the performance layer.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to mattresses, to mattresses for beds and to mattresses that efficiently provide low pressure and alignment to achieve restful and less fragmented sleep.[0002]Normally, everyone spends a large percentage of everyday sleeping. Restful sleep is important to a person's good health, enjoyment of life and the ability to function normally. Sleep affects brain activity, heart rate, blood pressure, sympathetic nerve activity, muscle tone, blood flow, sexual arousal, body temperature and other body conditions. Poor sleep has a strong correlation to obesity, diabetes, stroke, depression, hypertension and other adverse conditions.[0003]Restful sleep is dependent upon a person's comfort level while recumbent, usually in side-lying and back-lying positions. The concentration of pressure on certain parts of the body and poor body alignment are significant causes of restless sleep.[0004]During sleep, a healthy person typically passes through ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a pillow that works in conjunction with a mattress to promote body alignment and reduce pressure, resulting in a restful and less fragmented sleep. The pillow is designed to support the recumbent body, with different displacement patterns in the shoulder, thoracic, and hip regions. The pillow is particularly useful in the thoracic region to assist in alignment of the body. The cover of the pillow includes a stretch material that allows the body to be comfortably depressed without significantly modifying the load deflection parameters of the pillow. The stretch material has a tensile strength that allows the cover to stretch approximately 12% or more in the longitudinal and lateral directions when a recumbent body is on the mattress. Overall, the present invention promotes better sleep with improved comfort and reduced pressure.

Problems solved by technology

The concentration of pressure on certain parts of the body and poor body alignment are significant causes of restless sleep.

This sleep cycle is repeated a number of times over a normal sleep period, but can be disrupted due, for example, to body discomfort.

Bed-induced shifts due to discomfort caused by the bed are a significant cause of poor sleep quality.

There are two major causes of bed-induced shifting that cause poor sleep.

The first major cause of shifting is excessive pressure on parts of the body and the second major cause of shifting is the body's spinal misalignment.

Considering the first major cause of shifting, the buildup of pressures results from prolonged lying in the same position.

High compression tends to restrict capillary blood flow which is recognized by the body, after a period of time, as discomfort.

When parts of the body (usually shoulders and hips in conventional mattresses) are subjected to pressures above the ischemic threshold, discomfort results and, hence, a person shifts to remove the discomfort and threat to tissue damage.

A sagging mattress allows the upper torso (thoracic region) to drop relative to the hips and results in stress to muscles and ligaments.

The stress from a sagging mattress frequently manifests as discomfort or even pain in the lumbar region of the back.

While the general principles of an ideal mattress have been recognized, actual embodiments of mattresses that have properties that approach the properties of an ideal mattress at reasonable costs have not been fully satisfactory.

Generally for lower density materials, a growing loss in hardness arises after repeated loading.

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