Contract bed surgery – what’s inside a Millbrook bed?
A common concern with contract bed buyers can often be about the materials that are used for the mattresses and beds. Since there are so many types of mattresses and beds on the market today, it is important to know what goes into the manufacturing and design of these contract bed items.
With an uncompromising design philosophy, Millbrook Contract Beds was born out of the finest craftsmanship and the utilisation of the highest quality materials in order to create the ultimate in luxury sleep. With rapid mass production at work in this industry, Millbrook is totally committed to the traditional ideals of quality and craftsmanship. The hope is that through our dedication to this aspect of design, function and handcrafted care, our clients feel more reassured that our contract beds are superior in every way as we continue to promote well-being and comfort through the attainment of a perfect sleep.
^^^A peek inside a Millbrook Bed^^^
Sprung interiors are most common and are located in a majority of bases with the exception of waterbeds, high quality latex mattresses and cheap foam mattresses. There are various types of spring mattresses on the market and it’s important to know what different types are on offer. The main types of modern spring units are as follows: open coil, knitted and pocket spring.
Open Coil – individual springs are joined together using wire. There are between 288 and 325 springs in a 5’0 mattress.
Knitted – a spring system created from continuous lengths of interwoven wire.
Pocket springs – these are the finest of spring systems. Each spring is housed within individual fabric pockets. They move independently of each other, eliminating ‘roll-together’ and offering correct spinal support. The pocket spring is at the heart of all our top quality sprung beds. You’ll find that this offers the highest levels of support, durability and comfort.
Double stacking and individually hand nested pocket springs provide superior levels of support. The top tier if the springs absorb the majority of the weight whilst conforming to the body shape. The bottom rows resist more gently adding to the overall support and also to the longevity of the mattress, all working in harmony to ensure that your body is supported. Our unique Zonal edge springing provides extra strength to the sides of the mattress, by applying 2 rows of firmer springs on either side, ensuring no ‘roll-off’ or sleep disturbance.
HAND-SIDE STITCHING
Every mattress in the range features traditional hand-side stitching which secures the outer springs to the border at top and bottom preventing ‘roll-out’, and is the most highly skilled and labour intensive of all our operations. Side-stitching is carried out by senior upholsterers using traditional long needles and twine to make borders and edges stronger. The effects on the mattress are quite dramatic preventing the springs from distorting and extending the sleeping area right up to the edge of the bed.
DIVAN BASE
The fully sprung edge zonal divan base has a unique spring system incorporating two support levels of spring torsion with a higher gauge spring supporting the edge to prevent ‘roll-off’ and also creates a firm, supportive foundation for the mattress.
All divans are made from solid timber to carry the weight of the sumptuous mattress and load-bearing joints are secured and glued by hand for lasting strength. All divans are mounted on smooth running solid metal casters. The drawers come complete with unique, smooth ball-bearing steel action runners.
There has never been a better time to experience the luxury of sleeping in our beautifully crafted, handmade beds. Relax, wake up and benefit from the most comfortable sleep you have ever enjoyed. Contact us for further contract bed advice at Millbrook.
National Stop Snoring Week with Millbrook Contract Beds
This week is National Stop Snoring Week – it’s an annual event promoting general awareness that nobody need suffer as a result of snoring: this is a condition that can be treated. One of the most direct steps to addressing a snoring problem that has been pointed out to you is to see your Doctor. However, there are other tips and tricks you can try which we shall document in our blog here today…
Did you know that snoring is one of the most common sleep disorders in the entire world? It’s so common that many people who share a bed with a snorer will suffer interrupted sleep during the night that can lead to all sorts of problems later. Millbrook Contract Beds investigates…
What causes snoring?
The science behind snoring suggests it occurs due to the resonating sound caused by irregular breathing patterns. However, people do tend to snore for a variety of different possible reasons. Identifying the root cause of the snoring disorder will help to find a cure.
Is your snoring a positional problem, as in you only snore depending on what position you are sleeping in? Or is it a problem that is more directly tied to lifestyle and your body?
The sound you hear when someone is snoring is caused by the vibration of relaxed, floppy tissues that line the upper airway passage. Basically, when you sleep all the muscles in your body relax which decreases the diameter of your airway passage. This can cause, in some people, a partial block of airflow that leads to air flowing in gusts. As the air bounces around the airway passage it causes the muscles to vibrate like a flag in the wind. This is when a person will snore.
People tend to snore as they get older due to the body muscles becoming more and more weak and flaccid.
How can you stop snoring?
In some cases, snoring can be self-controlled. However, the condition often requires medical advice or home treatments. There are over-the-counter remedies that can be tried first. Some really do help to curtail the snoring. Other options include a variety of snoring solution techniques and gadgets such as mouth guards, chin straps, nasal valve dilators etc.
Other options in terms of home treatments and natural remedies include:
1. Take a tablespoon of honey before going to bed
2. Try not to sleep on your back. It is preferable for snorers to sleep on their side
3. Obvious causes of snoring can be attributed to alcohol intake. Don’t drink before bed!
4. Elevate your head to help easier breathing
5. Fat deposits are major contributing factors to snoring so come up with a regular exercise regime and a balanced diet. This good in general for a healthy lifestyle
6. The quality of the contract beds you sleep in make a big difference too. We don’t have to remind you of the importance of comfortable, durable and quality contract beds!
If these techniques do not have the required affect then perhaps seeking out a medical source for advice is a better option. Treatments can help snorers to avoid the occurrence of sleep apnoea and abnormal body movements.
Snoring is a one of those few medical conditions that don’t necessarily torment the sufferer so much as it does the person who sleeps next to the sufferer. It’s best to try and rectify the problem, especially if it is for the benefit of your partner!
For information about our contract beds please Contact Us or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Sleep tourism is on the rise
Have you heard about sleep tourism? It’s the latest trend in tourism and travel right now. It sounds strange but it really is a genuine concept. Millbrook Contract Beds investigates this unusual craze.
Right now, all around the world there are hotels, spas and accommodations that are designed to act as sleepaways for sleep-deprived clientele. Insomnia and sleep deprivation problems afflict many people around the world and many of these “sleep experience accommodations” cater specifically to those who have difficulty drifting off to the land of nod.
Some of the getaways have added extras such as private consultations with sleep experts, aromatherapy treatments and massage therapies. It’s pretty innovative thinking. In addition to these optional extras many of these sleep tourist hotspots offer sleep-deprived clientele pillow menus.
Specialist hotels provide light and sound systems designed to help guests fall asleep and stay asleep plus zero gravity chairs or massage beds to snooze in. Count in the development of snore absorption rooms that literally do absorb the sound of snoring and you’ve got yourself a new emerging part of the tourism industry!
Catering to the sleep needs and the sleep problems of travellers seems to be on the rise, and we here at Millbrook Contract Beds think this can only be a good thing.
With the development of many new technologies and innovative ideas related to the world of sleep it appears that the ability to achieve a better, deeper, more satisfying sleep is open to everyone, or at least soon will be. At the moment, sleep tourism caters to people who can afford to spend on mega-impressive hotels with advanced facilities and amenities. Enough time needs to pass in order to bring these new sleep assistance technologies down to a more amicable price and to a more open market so that we all may experience sleep tourism.
In the meantime, there really is no reason why people and businesses cannot adopt the ideas of sleep tourism for their own purposes and benefits. Creating relaxing environments where sleep can be optimised really is what we’re all about at Millbrook once you get to the very heart of it.
As an individual you can create your own DIY sleep holiday that requires zero packing and zero expense. Unplug from the technologies already in your life such as phones, computers, internet, television, tablets etc. These devices have gone from being lounge-bound items (or for use outside the home) and somehow we have brought them into our bedrooms where the only real purpose of a bedroom should be to sleep! Unplug yourself from this world for an evening. Take the time to turn your bedroom into a more relaxing, open and de-cluttered space. We have written many blogs on how to achieve this before.
For hoteliers, you too can offer a slice of the sleep tourism experience by offering more from your contract beds and contract bed choices and sleep paraphernalia available. You don’t have to be a hotel of the future in order to offer your guests maximum comfort.
Sleep tourism is only growing bigger and more popular. This is the beginning of a new form of tourism altogether and while it is very specific and, arguably, strange, it seems like it is going to be a facet of the hospitality industry that’s here to stay.
A Fresh Look at Contract Beds this spring
It’s the season for a spring clean – and why not start by taking a fresh look at your contract beds? After all, we at Millbrook Contract Beds offer free delivery right to your door as well as (for an additional fee) removal and disposal of your old beds.
As the leading supplier of contract beds in the UK, with over 60 years’ worth of experience in the industry, we know exactly how important a good night’s sleep is for your guests. Where customer service is concerned, the quality of your contract beds can make the difference between a complaint and a compliment, which is why our selection of beds is designed to provide a perfect night’s sleep to all of your guests. We do spend roughly a third of our lives asleep, so the importance of a good quality bed can never be understated – let alone where accommodation is concerned.
In the accommodation sector, guest satisfaction is especially important, as it can lead to repeat custom and positive endorsements in the future. After all, in the hotel industry, a good night’s sleep is the most important thing a hotelier can offer to their guests – so it’s important not to compromise on the quality of your beds, which should each last between seven and ten years depending on use.
Durability is one of the prominent features possessed by all of our contract beds, which are made to the highest quality following in more than half a century’s tradition of hand manufacturing. Our dedication to these traditional techniques in an industry that is fast becoming about mass production keeps us strongly in touch with the values and requirements of each of our clients, and allows us to adapt our constructions to any individual specifications that may be required from our clientele.
Here at Millbrook Contract Beds we offer unrivalled service, impartial advice and a complete customer support system – fill in our call back request form and we’ll be in contact when it’s convenient for you to discuss any of our products or arrange a free site survey. We stock beds built for all manner of requirements and for all budgets, so we’re bound to have something perfect for your needs.
If all this isn’t convincing enough, we’re pleased to offer discounted prices for most of our International Collection, from the simple and popular Hotel to the exceptional Executive, with the Club Class boasting a blend of comfort and value. The individually packed pocket springs of the Executive and Club Class provide a superior quality of sleep while the Hotel offers unparalleled value. With each of these varieties available in sizes through from the single to a 6’ zip and link and with a selection of material options, there’s every excuse to update your contract beds this spring.
A Brief History of Sleep
In today’s modern world, it’s easy to take your bed for granted – you retire to it when you feel tired and you wake up in it the morning after. But when you consider how great a portion of every day you spend in your bed it takes on a new air of importance. We at Millbrook Contract Beds think that beds are one of the most important things in life – after all, we spend on average a third of our lives in them!
Beds, however, haven’t always been constructed with pocket springs and memory foam mattresses. The humble bed had humble beginnings – there is evidence to suggest that even early man had allocated areas for sleeping away from living quarters in their dwellings. Traces of specific leaves in these primitive cave bedrooms, not found natively in the immediate area, suggest that comfort was considered important even when mere survival was the top priority.
As with much technological advancement, the Ancient Egyptians were pioneers, and the first to construct raised beds to avoid drafts, pests and the general dirt that accompanied sleeping on the floor. However, these luxury constructs were available primarily to the wealthy, leaving the poor population to sleep on piled palm leaves and wait for mattresses to be invented.
The mattress as we know it came along in the Roman period, when bags of cloth were stuffed full of wool, hay or even reeds, and were fairly widely available. As with every similar society, though, those with extra coin could obtain extra comfort – mattresses stuffed with feathers were available for those who could afford them.
In Medieval times, beds weren’t just raised off the floor – mattresses were supported on a latticework of ropes which had to be regularly tightened. This, incidentally, is where the expression “sleep tight” originated!
Similar designs of mattresses have been used since, and have progressed little until the 18th Century, in which their covers start to be made of higher quality material such as cotton and linen. Tufts and buttons were introduced too, to attach the stuffing to the cover and add a little more firmness and stability.
In the late 19th Century, the box spring was invented – as a shock absorber that distributed weight more evenly through a mattress, this introduction led to longer-life mattresses and allowed further mattress development to spring into action!
In 1926 the technology came about to turn rubber sap into latex foam which was used in latex mattresses and pillows. Although at the time they were only sold to royalty, we at Millbrook have adopted latex bedding and added it to our roster! A couple of decades down the line and a new use for this latex was discovered, leading to air mattresses and water beds.
Individual pocket sprung systems were invented in the 1930s and quickly grew in popularity, granting sleepers vastly improved support. NASA developed a material in the 1970s that later became known as memory foam, which was first incorporated into a bed in 1992.
So next time you lie down for a rest on your Millbrook Contract Beds, spare a thought for all those that came before it – and consider what you’d be sleeping on instead if you were born just a few thousand years earlier!
Lucid Revolution – insights into lucid dreaming from Millbrook
Millbrook Contract Beds isn’t just about comfortable, quality beds. The Millbrook team is obsessed with dreaming and sleeping – never on the job! – and we love exploring the nature of those weird and wonderful things. They are so alluring, mysterious and surreal that they capture our imaginations. We dream every night and yet we barely understand the phenomenon of dreaming.
Dreams represent the ultimate mystery for many of us. They have the power to excite and terrify us and they subconsciously shape the way that we live our lives. Dreams are amazing things and one of the most amazing things about dreams has to be lucid dreaming. Whether you’re lucidly dreaming from a contract bed in a hotel or a cosy bed in your own home, the concept is extraordinary.
Lucid dreaming is the ability to consciously take control of your dream as it happens. Taking control of your dream like this allows you to sculpt the world of your dream and make it work for you. Imagine an Inception-style adventure where you’re growing a world around you, raising skyscrapers, giant canyons and mountains or even transforming purple skies. That’s not just an exciting concept for Millbrook Contract Beds, it’s irresistibly tempting for everyone who has ever woken up wanting more from their dreams.
In a lucid dream, you become completely and consciously aware that you are asleep and dreaming. This awareness leads your mind to realise that the dream is no longer an abstract collection of impulses and thought-processes. From that point of realisation, providing nothing wakes you up, you know that you are dreaming and you can turn the dream into a fantasy playground.
People use lucid dreams to achieve their deepest desires. A popular theme in lucid dreaming is the power of flight. As people realise that they are dreaming, they take to the skies like Superman and fly through vast cities. Flying is the ultimate freedom and being able to achieve it in your dreams is nothing short of miraculous. From the comfort of your Millbrook bed, you can fly across vast oceans, fly through canyons or soar up to the top of the tallest buildings. The exhilaration of flight is a popular and basic desire in millions of people all over the world, especially the comic book fan-boys and girls that idolise airborne superheroes.
Not everyone uses lucid dreaming to realise their childhood dreams. A far greater proportion of lucid dreamers use lucid dreams to indulge in the ultimate fantasy behaviour. Sexual lucid dreams are a place to innocently act out your ultimate fantasies without harming anyone. These types of dreams are more common in younger men and decrease with age; the opposite is true in women, where women experience more of these dreams as they get older. If you do start to indulge in these lucid dreams, don’t blame Millbrook Contract Beds when your partner finds out!
This is a very interesting article on how to start to practice lucid dreaming using mental exercises. Give them a go and you could be lucidly dreaming like the best of them. The Contract Beds team at Millbrook is already practicing…
Mattress Recycling- Why it’s essential in the hospitality industry
When you go through the process of replacing your contract beds, or perhaps your contract bed mattress, it is easy to get someone to remove your old mattresses to make way for the new ones, but what happens to the ones you’ve thrown out?
The sad fact is, unless you care, you will find that many old mattresses become part of landfills and in a society that is increasingly concerned with the environment and looking after it, it’s probably time to consider the more positive effects of recycling and ensuring that whoever removes your old mattresses will recycle them.
As well as being more ecologically aware as a hotelier, there is also something to be said for the impact and positive image this might create for your hotel and brand as well. If your clients care about the environment and they see that you do too – then loyalty will not be far away which in turn will obviously have a positive effect on your business.
Landfills – Your old mattress and it’s new home
The downside of a mattress in a landfill is mostly associated with how they might absorb chemicals that can harm the earth around them, but perhaps more crucially the fact that many mattresses are not biodegradable means that slowly over time, they take up a lot of space and never go away.
Imagine a world in the future where all these old contract bed mattresses are still taking up space and damaging the ecology of an area? If you have children you may well want to consider the impact on their future too.
So let’s assume we choose to recycle
Recycling any mattress will always be a better option to putting it in a landfill. Mattresses sadly aren’t easy to recycle but it is possible. With the right tools then a mattress can be stripped back to the core parts and then bailed. Once this is done then the mattress can be reprocessed and end up back in a supply chain. The end result being that none of it ends up in a landfill, we recycle the materials in a positive way and most importantly protect the environment for now and in the future.
If you’re thinking of changing your contract beds or contract bed mattresses, think twice before assuming they will end up recycled, as a question now could save the world later on – making you feel good and of course giving you something to shout about when you promote your hotel’s unique selling points!
Ever wondered what’s inside a Millbrook Mattress?
As a leading contract bed maker and supplier, Millbrook Contract Beds takes pride in offering the very best in quality and the highest manufacturing standards to all its clients.
The fact that Millbrook offers contract beds that are comfortable is all down to the mattress but if you opened one up, what would you find?
In a contract bed mattress you will have interior springs which come in two types. The open coil mattress and the pocket spring mattress. Both offer comfort and luxury at different levels though.
An open coil mattress on a Millbrook Contract Bed is comprised of lots of individual springs that are specially joined together with wire. As a general guide, you can expect there to be between two hundred and eighty and three hundred and twenty five springs in a five foot mattress.
For lighter use, this is ideal and offers a good amount of support and of course value for any contract bed buyer.
With a Millbrook pocket sprung mattress you will find even more luxury and comfort as this form of manufacture is generally considered to be the very best. Each spring in the mattress is actually contained within a singular fabric pocket and therefore, will move independently to the other springs inside. This is particularly comfortable because it means excellent support for the spine and longevity in terms of shelf life.
The spring counts within a mattress on a Millbrook Contract Bed will range between eight hundred through to three thousand and of course, as you would expect, the highest quality spring units are joined in two tiers, which tends to offer the very best support and comfort for the sleeper.
Of course there’s a lot more to a contract bed from Millbrook than this, such as traditional hand-side stitching, which essentially joins the outside springs to the border at the bottom and top, which is an excellent way to prevent what we call ‘roll-out’. This is by far one of the most skilled and intensive parts of the manufacturing process, but it is most certainly worth it as it means the sleeping area of the bed goes right to the edge.
As always, we’re proud to offer over sixty years of experience in the supply of contract beds and mattresses so if you’re looking for some impartial advice on your next contract bed do contact us.
What Happens When we don’t Sleep? A Deprivation Investigation…
We’ve all been there at one time or another… a pair of long days with not much time between the two of them to get some shuteye. Many of us have even gone without sleep for a day or two, for some reason or another, before it catches up with us. But how long is it possible to go without the comfort of sleep for? And just what happens to us when we lose our sleep? Millbrook investigates…
The amount of sleep recommended for a restful night varies between age groups and between sources; most, however, agree that between 7 and 7.5 hours is a general optimum outside of childhood. This means we spend over a third of a 24 hour day asleep… think of everything you could get done in that extra 7 hours if you didn’t need to sleep! It isn’t as simple as that, though – for regular sleepless nights, there are some hefty prices to pay.
There are a few fairly obvious results of not sleeping – drowsiness being the most. Sleep-deprived individuals also have impaired motor functionality and reaction speeds, making complex or risky activities such as driving more and more unsafe. Still think it’s fine to miss a sleep and get behind the wheel? In one study, sleep-deprived drivers were put through the same testing course as drunk drivers and were outperformed. Driving while tired is really that dangerous.
In 1959 an American DJ called Peter Tripp stayed awake for 201 hours, breaking the then-record for wakefulness. That’s more than 8 days of no sleep! He did, however, feel quite a few unfortunate and adverse effects during this event. Not only did he go through all of the above, but towards the last few days he started to experience hallucinations and delusions of paranoia – he saw cobwebs, mice and kittens that weren’t there… he searched through his drawers for money that never existed… he even accused a technician of dropping a hot electrode in his shoe! His frankly scary experience showed the world how bad things can really get if you don’t get your 40 winks!
It’s not just extreme doses of wakefulness that can take their toll though. A perhaps less obvious – although equally logical – symptom of long-term sleeplessness is obesity. While you sleep, your body is using a lot less energy than if you were awake; for a start, you’re less likely to walk around while asleep! Thinking processes and movement all require energy, and this comes from the food you eat. People who sleep less use energy for a greater portion of the day than those who sleep more – therefore they need to eat more to keep those energy levels up. This is less likely to happen from a single sitting, though, but if those long days are maintained you might well find yourself piling on some unnecessary pounds.
Either way, sleep is one of the necessities of life. Regardless of whether you think you need it or not, your body and mind just don’t function the same way without it.
As usual, Millbrook Contract Beds is always happy to help you find the best beds for your guests – whether you’re a hotel or an academic institution. We are about sleep and your satisfaction!
Mattress Matters
A bed isn’t a bed without the mattress. Mattresses matter… a lot. The right mattress with the right contract bed base can be the difference between sweet dreams and a rough night of tossing and turning. A mattress combines with the bed base to give both comfort and support. Millbrook Contract Beds has decided to get into the specifics of why the mattress makes such a big difference to the sleep experience.
Choosing a mattress is just as important as choosing the right bed base. You can find the right mattress for yourself by following some simple steps to check that you’re getting the right one.
A good mattress should last up to 10 years so consider it as a worthy investment. As you would with any investment, know what you’re investing in. In other words, try before you buy. How else will you know if the mattress is suitable for you? There are different sizes, comfort levels and firmness options. Ideally you should buy your mattress and bed base together as a set, but it’s not always essential. Just make sure that if you do get them separately that they match each other both aesthetically and practically.
The most common types of mattresses are the following:
- Open spring – generally the most popular mattress type that gives a firm edge and retains the mattress shape
- Pocket spring – a more luxurious design where small springs are housed in separate fabric pockets
- Memory foam – it moulds to the shape and contours of your body providing support to posture and spine
- DPSS® (Double pocket spring system)- this is what you would deem as providing superior quality. As the name suggests, you get all the comfort of an individually sprung mattress but doubled! As you can imagine in terms of support this mattress really is luxury but more importantly it is also designed to offer longevity.
Finding the right mattress is really up to your body and its needs but we always recommend trying the mattress out first before choosing it. Showrooms are always happy to let you do this so long as you don’t jump up and down on it!
Once you have ownership of that mattress, treat it right. Air it out before laying it on the bed base. Give it a good few hours to freshen up and air out the storage smell.
With spring mattresses always turn it once a month to keep it balanced and the weight equally distributed so that it doesn’t go before it’s time.
Allow the bed access to circulation. In other words don’t stifle it with plastic sheets or electric blankets. Maintain that contract bed quality that you had on the day you bought it for years to come simply by allowing it to breathe every once in a while.
For more information on mattresses and why they matter contact us at Millbrook Contract Beds to get some advice.