Editor's note: The furniture World editorial staff did not review the original study parameters. Before presenting this information as fact on the retail level, it would be useful to see how tightly this study was controlled for the socio-economic factors and the effect of over-eating and excercise on the quality of sleep and it's effect on weight gain. One has to be careful to not equate correlations with causes in studies such as this.
Parents often hand down worn out mattresses to children and older mattresses rarely sleep well. A new medical study says children who sleep poorly are four times more likely to be obese.
The study, published in the February issue of Pediatrics, a medical journal, concluded that kids who had the shortest sleep and a disorganized sleep schedule had more than a fourfold increase in the risk of being obese.
"Parents often splurge on a higher quality mattress for themselves and hand down the worn out mattress for the kids," says Kurt Schusterman, Verlo Mattress Factory Stores CEO. "People usually buy a mattress only when it wears out so by handing the kids an old mattress they are depriving them of the important sleep growing kids need."
The Better Sleep Council estimates that nearly 70 percent of old beds are handed down, often repeatedly, to children. Parents will upgrade to a new mattress set but their kids often sleep on beds that are 10 years old or more. "If the bed is no longer good enough for you, it's not good enough for anybody else; throw it out," the Sleep Council says.
Verlo Mattress Factory Stores, a national franchise system, custom-fits and builds each mattress on site for each customer to meet individual needs and specializes in mattresses made for kids and parents. After building mattresses for more than 50 years, Verlo has an avid following because customers can custom spec out how they want their mattress made.
Custom fitting allows you to select a mattress made for both your body type and the way you sleep.
"We've been custom-fitting our own mattresses for 50 years and know how to fit a child," Schusterman says. "If you want your child to do well in school and lower risks of obesity and other health problems, invest in a new mattress made just for them. They'll sleep better and thank you for it."