Maas Says Mattress Retailers Really Sell Health, Happiness

The right amount of sleep will change your life, better sleep evangelist James Maas declared at Furniture/Today's Bedding Conference here.

     In a keynote address that received top marks from attendees, Maas launched the conference on a high note, outlining numerous benefits of a good night of sleep, and detailing the problems that plague those who don't get the necessary sleep. More than 300 attendees, record attendance for one of the newspaper's Bedding Conferences, listened closely to his talk.

     Maas is the co-author of "Sleep for Success! Everything you must know about sleep but are too tired to ask," and he took inspiration for his address from the subtitle of that book.
     He told his listeners, a group that included the industry's largest retailers, producers and suppliers, that they are doing much more than just selling rectangles. "You are not in the commodity business," he said.

     "You are in the business of promoting health and happiness, a much better tomorrow."
     But many consumers are challenged to enjoy that better tomorrow, he said, because they are moderately to severely sleep deprived. More than 70% of consumers aren't getting the recommended eight hours of sleep each night, he said. High school and college students, he said, are "walking zombies" because they sleep too little.

     Many adults fall asleep at work each week, Maas said. He showed pictures of world leaders fast asleep on the job. And he said sleepiness diminishes our concentration at work.
     Maas said that sleep "is a necessity, not a luxury," and maintains that it determines our waking success, moods, alertness, energy and thought processes. The best predictor of life span, he said, is the quality and quantity of our sleep.

     Sleep deprivation "makes you clumsy, stupid, unhealthy and it shortens your life," Maas said. Some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation: Getting drowsy after a heavy meal or during a boring meeting,
falling asleep quickly, using an alarm clock to wake up, and repeatedly hitting the snooze button.

     Most adults need between 7.5 and nine hours of sleep. The average person claims to get 7.1 hours of sleep each night, but studies show it is actually much less than that, Maas said.
     In contrast, he said, getting enough sleep helps people lose weight, clear their arteries, and boost their memory and learning processes.

     "When a customer comes in to your store," he said, "you are not selling a product, you are selling a chance for them to be healthy and mentally alert."