THE BEST BED

Ancient Egyptians slept under linen sheets on carved wood bed frames. The pillow was made of wood, too. It was more like a padded stand. The whole bed was warmed from below by a small heater. In the day, the sleeping mats were rolled up and the kang could be used as a table or seating place. Even if you were rich enough to have a bed, it didn’t mean you slept alone. The Great Bed of Ware was made for an inn (like a hotel) in England in 1600. It could sleep 12 people at once. Beds eventually became more common. But people still liked company at night. Servants sometimes slept on trundle beds, wheeled mattresses that slid under the master’s bed frame. In the 1930s, there was a fad for “disappearing” beds. Inventors obsessed with saving space created beds that could be folded into bathtubs, pianos, bookshelves—even fireplaces. Many native people of Central and South America liked to sleep in hammocks. These hanging beds were cool, easy to make, and away from crawling bugs. European sailors copied the idea. On sailing ships, they hung their hammocks just a foot or so apart, like bunk beds that rocked and rolled with the waves. In outer space, astronauts are in free-fall so it feels like there’s no gravity. Everything floats around. To stay safe while sleeping, astronauts zip themselves up in sleeping bags clipped to the wall.