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Man spends about one third of his life on the bed, that is why its  important that much importance should be given to the satisfactory design of the beds, for the reason rest and recuperation processes are hindered and it affects the efficiency of the worker and finally affects the health of the person.
The uncomfortable bed is a poor investment in the home. The bed sometime so poorly woven i.e. loosely woven that the body sinks into it, and it produces kyphosis of the back, which is very damaging for the back muscles supporting the back. It can also damage the inter vertebral discs. The length of the bed should be according to the length of the tall person in the family with some provision for movement, similarly width of the bed must allow enough space for a person laying on his side to bend the knees. The height of the bed should be adequate enough to provide comfortable posture for bed making and at the same time, the feet should rest on the floor while sitting with legs hanging down.
Dimensions of the bed:
Length of the bed: The length of the bed should be decided  on the basis of the height of the person. The length of the tallest person should be taken, not of the average height person, because the bed designed for the average height person will be uncomfortable for the tall person.
- Some amount of space should be left for movement, may be 3 to 5 cms.
- Some allowance must be kept for the secular increases in size, especially when you are deciding the length of the bed for the children.
- The recommended length of bed by some author, is 190 cm to 210 cm e.g. 190 minimum and 210 is desirable.
Width of the bed: The width of the single bed should be  decided on the basis that it should allow enough room for a person laying on his side to bend the knees. The recommended width for an average person by some persons is 70 cm plus 15 cm on each side for movement, so the total width comes to 100 cms, or it can be decided by taking width of the fattest person from shoulders and hips plus 15 cm on each side for bending the knees. The recommendations given in the literature for single bed for adult vary between 90 and 100 cms. This shows that 90 cms is minimum and 100 cms is desirables. Many people found comfortable width of bed varying from 110 cms to 120 cms. The width of the double bed was recommended 140 cms to 180 cms i.e. 140 cm minimum and 180 cm desirable.
Height of the bed: The height of the bed should be equal to the height of the lower leg of the shortest person. The lower height can be comfortable for the taller person but higher height can not be comfortable for the shortest individual.
Interior decorators have sharply reduced the height of the beds to keep in proportion to the height of the room. The victim of this is the housewife, who have to bend his back more all the time as compared to the previous design. For this purpose low beds are unsatisfactory. A change of fashion is desirable if it reduces the human cost of doing the work. Some of the authors suggested the height along with the mattress should be 60 to 70 cm.
The correct attitude of bed making is either to squat down or to go down on one knee on the floor. The people who suffer from backache should adopt one of these postures for the good of their discs.
There should be enough space for cleaning underneath the bed, otherwise the housewife will again have to make so many postures for cleaning the floor underneath the bed. The recommended space on one of the long side is 122 cm.
In addition to the correct dimension of the bed, types of mattresses or other bed clothes used also affect the depth of sleep. The mattress which are used should be:
- Comfortable when lying down
- Good heat retention
- Adequate absorption of perspiration.
The mattress should be so made that at every change of body position, it yield gently to each of the body projection i.e. shoulder, neck, hips and pelvis. It is equaly important that the mattress should preserve its shape. It should not settle down into a oat shape, nor take the impression of the body lying on it. Hard wooden support underneath the mattress is important if the mattress is too soft.
Kanz did some studies to see the effect of different set of clothes on the depth of sleep. He has made some recommendations e.g.
- The combination of a spring mattress with a feather pillow give the best sleep.
- The pillow has more effect on the depth of sleep than the mattress.
- Foam rubber mattress can be approved on hygienic ground because foam rubber has bache rioshatic properties, washable, dust free, vermin resistant and free from toxic substances which might set up allergies.
- Mattress should be good heat insulators, so that body does not loose any of its warmth during sleep. The more porous a mattresses, more air it can retain, the better it acts as a heat insulator. Spring, latex and polyurethane mattress are all good in this respect. A horse hair mattress is equally good, if it is of good quality, and if enough sheep wool is mixed with it.
- It should be good sufficiently to absorb the body perspiration (e.g. water vapour of sweat). It is an important hygienic characteristic. Mattresses and other bed clothes should take up the water vapour, but at the same time they must be sufficiently permeable for the moisture to be able to evaporate it during the course of the day.
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