| Summary: | Recently, several new materials for mattresses have been introduced. Although some of these, such as low rebound (pressure-absorbing/memory foam) and high rebound mattresses have fairly different characteristics, effects of these mattresses on sleep have never been scientifically evaluated. In the current study, we have evaluated effects of a high rebound mattress topper [HR] on sleep and its associated physiology, and the effects were compared to those of a low rebound mattress toppers (LR) in healthy young (n = 10) and old (n = 20) adult males with a randomized, single-blind, cross over design. We found that sleeping with HR compared to LR induced a larger decline in core body temperature (CBT) in the initial phase of nocturnal sleep both in young (minimum CBT: 36.05 vs 36.35°C) and old (minimum CBT: 36.47 vs. 36.55°C) subjects, and declines in the CBT were associated with increases in deep sleep/delta power (+27.8% in young and +24.7% in old subjects between 11:00-01:00). We also found significantly smaller muscle activities during roll over motions with HR (-53.0 to -66.1%, depending on the muscle) during a separate daytime testing. These results suggest that sleeping with HR in comparison to with LR, may facilitate restorative sleep at the initial phase of sleep.
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