A few years ago, I noticed that I had a bad back. Each time I stood up after bending for a few minutes, my back would unbend with a dull pain that made me want to bend back to the position that I was earlier. The pain would persist for a few minutes and would eventually die down until the next time that I bent. And so I learnt how to do my chores while standing upright. If I wanted to wash clothes, I would elevate the basin so that I wouldn’t have to bend. If I wanted to iron clothes, I would do it on the dinner table top to avoid having to bend. I also ensured that those chores didn’t last long to avoid the discomfort.

Despite my precautions, it got worse when I noticed that each morning, I would get the same dull pain on my back as soon as I got out of bed. But then I attributed all that to my bad back, and so I started doing exercises that would help strengthen the back. I also thought that I should acquire a massager in order to ease the tension in my back.

At about the same time, one of my friends used my bad and complained that my mattress was very uncomfortable. At first, I was defensive since it was a beautiful ‘high density’ 6 inch thick foam mattress that I had acquired a while back. But now that the seed of curiosity had been planted, I started paying attention to my mattress. I noticed that I liked sleeping on one side of the bed, and as a result had created a small impression where I dipped into each night. When I slept on the other side of the bed, I noticed that it felt strange, but I woke up the following morning without a back ache. And as if by coincidence, I went to see another friend who was attending physio-therapy at a centre that focused on treatment through correct flow of energy throughout the body. On that day, one of the facilitators was talking about the benefits of having a healthy backbone. He explained that apart from propping us up when we are standing, the backbone also acts as a centre for processing all the information collected by the nerves that are spread all over the body. He concluded that any blockage of energy in the backbone results in pain and illness in the body. In the long run, sleeping on a bad mattress or a bad bed for years will cause back problems in many people. However, since it often becomes a life disrupting problem later in life, most people attribute their woes to old age. Incidentally, the room was filled with old people with all sorts of physical ailments in addition to an aching back.

Armed with that information, I went to Nakumatt Supermarket to buy myself a new mattress. After consulting with the helpful attendant, I ended up buying a spring reinforced Slumberland “orthopedic” mattress. It came with a user guide with the dos and don’ts of a mattress and a five year manufacturer’s warranty. For example, did you know that you should regularly flip your mattress side to side and head to toe? This is similar to fluffing a pillow and prevents creating depressions in the mattress. Did you also know that on an ordinary night, your body loses moisture that is absorbed into the mattress? It is therefore important to air your mattress by turning back the covers each day to allow the moisture to escape. This is especially important on hot nights or when you have an illness that makes you sweat.

At KShs. 20,000, this was one of the most expensive mattresses at the shop. But exactly one year later, I am happy to say that this was the best investment of my money for the year 2009. My morning back pain is gone, and I can comfortably bend for as low and as long as it takes to finish any task. Plus I learnt a few things that I didn’t know about how to make the best use of my mattress from the Slumberland mattress user’s manual.