Summary
We spend a lot of time on them so it’s important to get the right mattress. But buying one can be confusing. Some use springs while others are made out of foam - or there’s a combination of both. Then there’s memory foam, with brands like Tempur claiming to make their mattresses out of ‘proprietary’ material. And can a good mattress help to alleviate back pain?
These are the questions keeping listener Stephen up at night and he tasks presenter Greg Foot with finding out more. Greg speaks to experts in the mattress industry and a sleep specialist, looking at the scientific evidence to test whether the claims made by mattress manufacturers live up to the marketing hype.
This series, we’re testing and investigating your suggested wonder-products. If you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad, and wonder if there’s any evidence to back up a claim, drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our WhatsApp number: 07543 306807.
Presenter: Greg Foot Producer: Simon Hoban
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, podcast fan. |
| 0:03.0 | Consider this your invite to the UK's biggest podcasting party. |
| 0:06.7 | We're heading to Sheffield from the 4th to the 6th of July |
| 0:09.0 | for the BBC Sounds Fringe at the Crossed Wires Festival. |
| 0:12.8 | We'll be joined by some of the biggest names in podcasting, |
| 0:15.3 | including Sarah Cox, Charlie Hedges, Russell Kane, |
| 0:18.4 | and some bloke called Greg James doing his Radio 4 show called Rewinder. |
| 0:23.2 | You can watch live shows of your favourite podcasts, and the best part is free. |
| 0:28.1 | To book your free tickets, go to crossedwires.org slash fringe. |
| 0:34.2 | BBC Sounds, music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:40.0 | Hello, I'm Greg Foote and welcome to the show that cuts through the advertising hype |
| 0:44.7 | to find out whether a whole heap of wonder products really deliver on their bold claims. |
| 0:50.4 | This week's suggestion comes in from Stephen Quirk in Kent. |
| 0:57.1 | Hello, Stephen. |
| 0:58.5 | Hi, Greg. How are you doing? |
| 0:59.7 | Very good. Thanks for sending over your email. |
| 1:01.8 | Great programme. |
| 1:02.8 | Oh, I appreciate it. |
| 1:03.9 | You want me to investigate mattresses on your behalf, I believe. |
| 1:07.5 | Yeah, I had an old kind of memory foam mattress. |
| 1:10.7 | It was a massive price. It was about |
| 1:12.1 | £1,000 15 years ago. So it was a real investment, a bit of an indulgence, it's kind of midlife |
... |
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