New bed uses astronaut & German technology for heat regulation.
Take technology used to keep astronauts cool in their spacesuits. Add graphite bands that create a thermal highway, moving heat from one place to another, and put both in a trusted product made by a leading Kiwi company. The result: New Zealand’s coolest mattress – literally.
Bed manufacturer Sleepyhead say they’ve created a state-of-the-art mattress that helps support coolness – helping to stop people from overheating on a hot summer’s night, leading to a better sleep.
The clever idea of combining two innovative technologies is applied in the luxury Sanctuary mattress, which has just been released in time for summer. Independent testing by the University of Auckland shows this system – called OptiTemp – really works,” says Sleepyhead’s group product development manager Dean Rope.
“We think this will revolutionise the way beds are made,” he says. It really is a game-changer.”
Being too hot in bed can contribute to poor sleep. Skin temperature of 29° Celsius (as opposed to core body temperature, usually around 36°C) is considered optimal – temperatures above that can hinder your ability to fall and stay asleep, and to get adequate deep sleep. This is the vital period of sleep when your body builds and repairs muscles, bones and tissue, and strengthens your immune system.
Deep sleep is also important for memory and cognitive function, as well as metabolising glucose. It helps to restore energy and regenerate cells, and a shortfall in deep sleep is linked to conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Recognising the importance of being able to stay cool in bed when it’s hot, Sleepyhead started using heat-regulating technology called KulKote a few years ago. Initially developed to regulate the body temperatures of astronauts in their spacesuits, KulKote is a water-based product that is sprayed on the mattress foam. It contains tiny microcapsules that absorb heat if your skin temperature goes above 29°.
If your temperature drops more than a couple of degrees, the KulKote layer releases stored energy back to the surface of the mattress, keeping it at an even temperature: “It works really well, but we thought, ‘how can we take this and make it even better?” says Rope.
Sleepyhead heard about a German concept that uses bands of graphite in the mattress to also move heat away from the person in the bed if they get too hot. The 7cm wide strips are placed in the mattress to be near the hips and abdomen – where most body heat is stored – and act as a thermal highway, taking excess heat away from your body and returning it later if your temperature drops.
“It is a really good thermal regulator and when it’s used in unison with KulKote, which grabs the heat from your body and takes it down to these carbon bands. It can make a huge difference to how hot or cold you are in bed. Having these two elements together in our OptiTemp system takes temperature regulation to the next level.”
As well as doing its own in-house testing, Sleepyhead has had OptiTemp thoroughly checked out by NZ Product Accelerator, a government-funded programme that assists companies with product development and arranges tests to make sure their products do what they claim.
“We engage with them all the time to make sure our products are up to standard,” says Rope. “OptiTemp was tested by scientists from the University of Auckland and they found that it can regulate your skin temperature to 29° and that it works for a full 12 hours.”
“If you have a bedroom that’s heated up to 35°, then this product won’t get your temperature down to 29° - according to physics that’s just not possible,” says Rope. “But within the normal parameters of most New Zealand bedrooms, it will help to keep you at an optimal temperature and, instead of spending the night throwing your duvet off and pulling it on again, it will help you to have a much better sleep.”
Sleepyhead staff who’ve been trialling the mattress have given it the thumbs up: “They’ve noticed the difference and we expect to see the benefits even more in the next few weeks when it starts getting hotter at night,” says Rope. “I have a version of this mattress, and I know it works.”
So far OptiTemp is only being used in the top-of-the-range Sanctuary mattress, which also uses luxury materials like New Zealand wool and silk fibres, and features Sleepyhead’s patented Sensorzone system, in which foam and springs are integrated to provide dual support – though it is expected that, over time, OptiTemp technology will be used in other brands of Sleepyhead mattresses.
Find out more at www.sleepyhead.co.nz/beds/sanctuary/