According to research conducted by Oklahoma State University and the Better Sleep Council, you should consider replacing your mattress every 7 years or so. An international team of archaeologists discovered a 77,000 year old bedding made of insect-repelling leaves and other medicinal plants in a South African cave - which sets the world record for the oldest mattress, according to World Records. 77,000...that's just a few years off the 7-year suggested replacement cycle, right?
One of the coolest things they found out about this bed, is that its comprised of insect-repelling leaves and plants. (Take that, bedbugs!) The beds themselves consist of compacted stems and leaves of sedges, (a grass-like plant that grows in wet places,) rushes (hollow stalks/stem-like leaves,) and grasses stacked in at least 15 layers within a chunk of sediment 10 feet (3 meters) thick.
Archaeologists discovered the stack of ancient beds at Sibudu, a cave in a sandstone cliff in South Africa. "The use of medicinal plants, along with other artifacts at the cave, helps reveal how creative these early peoples were," researchers said.
"The inhabitants would have collected the sedges and rushes from along the uThongathi River, located directly below the site, and laid the plants on the floor of the shelter," said researcher Lyn Wadley, an archaeologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
This fine covering of leaves may also represent the earliest known use of medicinal plants by humans. The leaves are from the tree Cryptocarya woodii, or river wild-quince, a medicinal plant that produces insect-killing chemicals.
Kind of neat to think that even 77,000 years ago, humans had the inherient need to be as comfy and cozy as possible when they went to sleep. So, how old is YOUR mattress?
Sweet dreams!
~Karin Mahoney
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