A New Host of Products Promises
To Lull Consumers to Sleep

The $5.6 billion U.S. bedding industry is snuggling up with a new friend -- sleeplessness.

With reports of the disorder on the rise, mattress and foundation makers are introducing a range of products that claim to help consumers get more shut-eye. One new $100 pillow has a pocket to hold essential-oil beads that are supposed to lull consumers to sleep. A just-introduced mattress pad that goes for $240 promises to keep sleepers from sweating. Leading the pack: mattress makers, whose sales rose 11% in 2004, according to the International Sleep Products Association. That growth is being driven by both aging, aching boomers and the new foam "memory" mattresses, originally from Sweden, which have taken off in the last few years.

Many of these new products promise to help consumers get bed rest by relying on scent or sound -- a change in strategy from just a few years ago, when "firm" was the buzzword for sleep-friendly mattresses and pillows. Now, makers tout "softness," while "warmth" is being played down. In fact, because so many items, from fluffy comforters to giant body pillows, have been layered on upscale beds in recent years, many makers now tout the ability of their products to keep sleepers from getting too hot or wick away sweat.

The bedding industry is seizing on sleep because there seems to be a decreasing amount of it. A poll of 1,500 Americans by the National Sleep Foundation, an educational and advocacy group, found that 75% of the participants reported sleeping problems this year, up from 69% in 2001. Many sufferers are older, but even younger people are slumber-challenged: The number of adults under 44 who are using prescription sleeping aids doubled over the past five years, according to Medco Health Solutions, a drug-benefit-management firm that surveyed 2.4 million prescription-drug claims.

But how do the new products work? For now, the research seems to be mixed. No large-scale independent studies have proven that sound, scent, temperature or softness cure insomnia. However, several small studies support some of these claims. A 1997 study of 21 adults by a division of New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center in White Plains, N.Y., showed that cooler body temperatures encourage sleep. And a study of 60 people earlier this year by researchers at Case Western Reserve University and a university in Taiwan showed that lavender oils wafted through a room helped elderly people sleep more soundly. Still, Dr. Lawrence MacDonald, medical director of the Sinai-Grace Sleep Disorder Center in Detroit, Mich., says insomnia is best treated by regulating light and bedtime. "You can simply use an eye mask," he says.

That's advice Chicago developer Bill Senne could have used before he invested $3,000 in a "motion absorbing" foam mattress by Tempur-Pedic. Though the company's ads promised buyers "therapeutic comfort," Mr. Senne says it still takes him a couple of hours to drop off at night. "It would have been cheaper just to go to the doctor," he says. (A Tempur-Pedic spokesman says returns on the SolutionBed Mr. Senne purchased are "nothing out of the ordinary.")

Here is a look at some of the latest anti-insomnia products on the market and experts' take on their effectiveness.

Scented Sleep

Moving from the bathroom to the bedroom -- with a promise to cure insomnia -- might not seem like the most natural development for the aromatherapy industry. But this fall, makers best known for patchouli body scrubs and ylang-ylang lotions are introducing products they say will help induce sleep, from "insomnia-relief" inhalers to pillow misters.

Bath & Body Works, for example, is now selling a $13 Sleep-Lavender Vanilla body lotion, $20 Sleep/Calming orange-sandalwood sugar scrub and $10 Sleep-Lavender pillow mist. Earth Solutions, founded by osteopathic physician David Epstein, has introduced a $4 "insomnia relief scent inhaler" that the Atlanta company says brings about sleep through the blended smells of lavender, vetiver, rosemary and chamomile. And then there's the $100 Aroma-Rest Ultimate Sleep Pillow. Designed by a chiropractor, the pillow is made with "memory foam" that is supposed to keep a sleeper's neck in alignment; it also has a side pocket for a canister of lavender and tangerine essential-oil beads to overcome insomnia.

Penny Wilson, a Paducah, Ky., homemaker, says she recently tried the Aroma-Rest and that she was able to stop taking a prescription sleeping aid after two weeks. But Ms. Wilson also finds the scent so potent that she keeps the cap on the canister during the day. "Though I find it very pleasant, some people might think it a little strong," she says.

If some insomniacs fall asleep with scented pillows and mists, it might not be due to the specific smells, says Charles McPhee, former director of a treatment program at the Sleep Disorders Center of Santa Barbara, Calif. Breathing any pleasant scent is a distraction, says Dr. McPhee: "Concentrating on the aromas gets your mind off whatever anxieties are contributing to your insomnia."

Under Cover Cool

There's no large-scale scientific research that shows being too hot, cold or sweaty keeps you from sleeping well, but that isn't stopping some firms from trying to persuade consumers that regulating body temperature and moisture is a good way to ensure sound sleep.

The primary motivation: finding a way to tap into the 30 million American women in menopause -- and who suffer from the sleep-disrupting effects of hot flashes -- as well as the 21 million additional women expected to reach that stage by 2010.

In its fall catalog, L.L. Bean, the New England lifestyle retailer, introduced a washable wool collection, including an $80 pillow and a $130 to $240 mattress pad, to "wick away moisture" to keep sleepers from overheating. Another new offering is the Clima Balance down comforter, selling for $270 to $350, with mesh ventilation panels to maintain "an ideal bed climate," the company says.

Meanwhile, Quilts of Denmark is touting a new $675 TempraKON Siberian goose-down comforter, with a special layer the company says contains a trademarked material that was created by NASA for astronauts' space suits. The material, the company says, has microscopic capsules that become fluid and absorb heat when body temperatures rise and then solidify and release heat when the temperature gets too low. That feature "reduces overheating and sweating, helping you to sleep more soundly and wake up more rested," the company's literature says.

Keeping dry while you sleep certainly sounds more conducive to rest than being sweaty. But experts like Isabel Crisostomo, medical director of the Sleep Disorders Service and Research Center of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, say body temperature isn't a major cause of insomnia. "It's easy for patients to manipulate their environment until they're comfortable," she says.

Musical Z's

Frustrated by his chronic insomnia, Daryle V. Scott said he recently decided to buy a music tape that promised to "coax your own brain waves" to sleep. The only problem: When Mr. Scott played the Delta Sleep System recording, some parts were so loud that he woke up. "That is anything but restful," the Jacksonville, Fla., swimwear retailer says. (Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, maker of Mr. Scott's sleep tape, he says people perceive sounds differently, and the CD is one of his best-selling products.)

While plenty of consumers doubt that a bona fide connection exists between music and relaxation, a few recent studies support the claim. One, conducted in Japan, showed improved sleep among 43 elementary-school students who heard music while they napped. Another, the joint Case Western Reserve and Taiwan university study, showed elderly insomniacs who listened to 45 minutes of soft music before bed had improved sleep quality.

Now, at least one furniture company is applying the music theory to mattresses, with a $3,000 model that uses audio signals to induce sleep. Created by SO Sound Solutions, a Lafayette, Colo., furniture maker, the latex mattress takes a signal from a radio, MP3 player or other sound-producing gadget and converts it into vibrations that can be felt through the bedding.

Selling Softness

With mattresses running almost a foot thick and sheet thread counts approaching 1,000, manufacturers seem to be taking the "Princess and the Pea" fable to heart -- and selling softness.

The biggest contributor to the trend is visco-elastic "memory foam" that makers say conforms to a sleeper's shape and absorbs motion. Dormia, a Fishkill, N.Y., company, for example, has a new $2,200 Luxura mattress that is 11 inches thick, with four alternating layers of latex and memory foam. Brookstone, the upscale home and gadget chain, is selling an exclusive $3,000 Supreme model that is 10 inches thick and offers "restful and healing sleep."

Softness is also a key to the marketing of Hypnos, a British mattress and box-spring company that just introduced its products to the U.S. last month, at New York First, an Ithaca, N.Y., retailer. The custom-made sets, which sell for $8,000 to $20,000, have more than 4,000 springs, each encased in calico and layered in cashmere and silk. The downside: Because the mattresses are made of all-natural materials and need to breathe, they have to be flipped regularly. That's turned out to be a task for Patricia Tancredi of Scarsdale, N.Y., a new Hypnos owner. "It's awfully heavy," says Ms. Tancredi, adding that it takes two people to turn over the 100-pound mattress.

What's more, experts say that softness and fanciness aren't necessarily conducive to nodding off. Not only can memory-foam mattresses get stiff in cold weather, but they also tend to hold the shape of previous positions temporarily when people turn over. The plushest of foam mattresses don't always provide enough support, particularly if you're overweight, says Sergio Alvarez, medical director of the Sonno Sleep Center in El Paso, Texas. "If you really want to buy something to cure insomnia," Dr. Alvarez says, "go buy a boring book."

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