Survey says sex goes better with innersprings
Leggett asks Americans to rate sleep surfaces
David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 5, 2008
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Springs make for better flings, according to the bedding industry’s leading spring producer.
Innerspring giant Leggett & Platt boldly tackles one of bedding’s unmentionables — sex — in a pre-Valentine’s Day survey of more than 1,000 Americans in committed relationships. Both men and women responding to the survey rated an innerspring mattress as the best sleep surface for sex, as opposed to foam or an air bed.
The results: 68% of respondents prefer an innerspring mattress for sex, while 25% like foam and 7% prefer air, according to L&P.
The L&P officials are weighing in with some sexy supporting data, asserting that innersprings “have the goods to back up their studly status.” Leggett says that innersprings return 94% of the energy applied to them, which is 27% higher than foam mattresses and 6% higher than air mattresses. “Bounce per bounce,” L&P officials said, seriously, “the active support of innersprings adds the best boost of energy for boudoir fun.”
Noted Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of bedding at L&P: “Consumers consider their financial return on investment when purchasing a mattress and they should weigh the energy ROI as well. After all, couples spend a lot of quality time on mattresses, whether it is being intimate, reading a book or watching television together.”
A Leggett press release quoted New York-based clinical psychologist and sex therapist Joy Davidson, who said she was not surprised to learn that innersprings scored high on the sex quotient.
“It makes perfect sense that the American public likes making love on innersprings,” she said. “Innerspring mattresses have a certain ‘give,’ which creates a more playful space for intimacy. Remember being a kid and bouncing up and down on your mattress? Well, the same little bit of bounce and ‘push back’ created by the innerspring is sexy in its own right. You could say it gives back the energy a couple puts into it.”
The survey also found that most respondents believe that more sleep would be the best way to boost their sex lives. It found that 54% of the men and 67% of the women hold that view. Davidson seconds that finding as well. “There is no doubt that sleep deficits dramatically affect interest in, and enjoyment of, sexual pleasure,” she said.
Rubin Naiman, a Tucson, Ariz.-based clinical psychologist, also supports the sex-sleep link, L&P officials said.
“We know that lovemaking carries us into a relaxed state that can help with sleep onset,” he said. “I often remind people that evening sex is a great, natural sedative. So, there’s an important circular connection between sex and sleep: Sleeping together can make for better sleep and, of course, better sleep can make for better sleeping together.”
L&P is releasing the study now so that it will get coverage before Valentine’s Day, which is Feb. 14.
