I knew nothing about futons and mattresses when I bought my set nearly two years ago. I needed something that would be simple and save me space. While my futon frame has held up well—especially after moving into to different apartments over the years—the mattress has seen better days. I sit on it during the day when watching The Colbert Report, and quietly drift to sleep watching Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Over this two year period, my body has formed a dip in the center of the mattress where I sit, and a valley where I sleep.
Even though the guy who sold me my futon told me to flip and rotate the mattress every few months, did I listen to him? Of course not. Now my mattress has become rather uncomfortable while sitting or sleeping. I feel as if I sink right into the mattress with no support or way to escape the clutches of my futon mattress. In other words, I should have listened to the guy who sold me my mattress.
Most people will say to me; “buy a new mattress”, or “you still have the futon?” Yes, I still have my futon. And as for the mattress, it just needs to be punched.
Yes, I said punched.
I’m rather pacifistic and a very non-violent person, but sometimes you just need to take your futon mattress outside and take a bat to it for a while. If you live in an apartment complex like me, throwing your mattress over the patio rail and swinging your little league bat at it looks rather crazy from another person’s point of view. But don’t worry.
Since many futon mattresses typically contain a high amount of cotton batting, over time this batting is pushed around and pits and valleys form where you sit and sleep. By punching and swinging a bat at your futon mattress—that your gracious mother bought you for college—you are smoothing out this cotton material so your mattress will fluff up closer to its original state.
Not only does this help extend the life of your mattress and offer more support when sleeping, it also provides a nice cardiovascular workout while working on your mean baseball swing. You will also be an intimidating resident around the apartment complex and no one will mess with you.
It is suggested that you use your futon mattress as a punching bag about two times a year, but one will do as well. After you’ve punched the living dust mites out of your futon, consider leaving it out for a few hours in the sun. Futons need some time to breathe and leaving it in the sun will allow it to do just that.
So if you forget to flip and/or rotate your futon mattress on a semi-regular basis, dust off your aluminum bat and give your mattress a nice swing, your sleep will thank you.
Posted on May 8th, 2008 by aaron
Filed under: Futon Mattresses, Futon News
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