The Squishiest, Sweetest Sleep

Tip: Never buy a bed that you have to heat. A teenage friend had a waterbed in the 70s and woke up in agony one morning because the power had gone out, the heater went off, and the water in the bed had gone cold, turning his muscles to stone. Why would anyone pay to heat their bed 24 hours a day and risk electrical failures that leave you nowhere to sleep?

Please post hunky men in your photos. Women love eye candy too.

Do people have to adjust the firmness of their waterbed? How breathable is the surface of the mattress?

Google is your friend. Googling 'Casper world' pretty quickly turns up this: https://casper.com/

Delighted to see my late husband's creation, "Pleasure Island", featured and credited in the caption. Life Magazine did a feature on the waterbed phenomenon, using this photo. Aaron Donner, a furniture designer, was most amused to be part of the sybaritic 70's.

It's a Casper world?

The new clickbait... put something odd in the headline, then never refer to or explain it in the article.

Just the other day wondered whatever happened to water beds. They were all the rage and don't believe I've seen one for 30 years.

I bought a Casper (love it) last year (invented by rocket scientists I think was what hooked me - that and world’s most comfortable bed promise) and had a waterbed hand-me-down in 1989-1990 (grade 12). I can’t imagine going back to a heated mattress in my mid-40s and I still have memories of pin sized leaks and waking up feeling like I wet the bed. I was stubborn and kept patching the mattress until I moved away to university. I’ll stick with my rocket scientists!

Sad to say, I'm of an age that I need my wife to recall one of our waterbeds--oddly, the latter one. I recall one we had when we were in college. We paid $40 at a headshop and built a lumber frame. No heater. No baffles. No nothing other than a liner. It was a champ. We sold it when we moved out of town. My wife recalls that, ten yrs later, we paid $1000 for a waterbed with a heater and custom frame, but, after a few yrs, it started leaking. Altho the liner held the water fine, I guess that's we went back to conventional mattresses. The article makes me want to try another waterbed. Problem is I now sleep with three large dogs with VERY large nails . . .. But maybe my wife would like one. She sleeps with a 6 lb poodle.

I moved into my first apartment in the early '70's. It was at basement level in a home in Brooklyn and had a backyard for my dog. I proceeded to purchase a king size water bed, with heater. It took a few days to adjust the heat settings. Once adjusted, I found the water bed to be very relaxing and wonderful for sex. The bed must've been an early design as it was one gigantic, heavy duty, plastic membrane. I filled the mattress with a garden hose. The 2 great things about this bed were sex and my dog's appreciation of the bed. Most important was sex. When I pushed down on the bed, the mattress would depress and then the weight of the water, on rebound, would actually throw me off my girlfriend. With much testing and practice, I found the right amount of force so that I could hold on to her and not be thrown off. We had an absolutely great time. My dog, Pookie, a mix of Lab and Shepard, loved the bed. When my girl and I went to bed we'd put Pookie to sleep on a rug at the foot of the bed. No sooner did we fall asleep than he'd put his paws on the edge of the bed, slip under the comforter and slide himself up and rest his head on the pillows between us. The first time this happened I was deep asleep and turned over to face my girlfriend. I placed my hand on her neck and was wondering how her ears grew so long and floppy. Yes, it was Pookie's head. What a hoot. Pookie and I both made out OK!

Interesting article!!! I was a pioneer in the 'waterbed industry'....I opened the first waterbed store in Seattle in December of 1970.....it was in the same location with the same name (Waterbeds West) for 16 years (for several of those years it was the 'oldest waterbed store in the world!')! I STILL sleep on a Heated Waterbed:).......I might come out of retirement to sell the world more waterbeds???!!!:).....

I have slept on water beds for more than 45 years. I don't have trouble on normal mattresses when traveling, but I do need more sleep on them as opposed to the water bed. We were given a frame and headboard ( by Water & Wood?) as a wedding gift in 1982. I don't see changes in store, too good.

I’ve been sleeping in a soft sided, baffled waterbed for over 25 years, the perfect solution for a bad back. The water acts as support & no waves. Depending on how much you fill it you can change the firmness. Mine has a reflective side that holds body heat so never had to worry about a heater. This princess & the pea girl highly recommends them!

My first water bed was a twin, full motion, unheated number that sat in the floor, inside a wooden frame. My parents bought it for me in the early 70s. I loved it and was bitterly disappointed when my dad made me give it up a few years later because he was afraid it was too heavy for our new 2-story house. (Lol) When I graduated from college in 1986, a new waterbed was my first purchase. I slept in a full-motion (heated!) queen for the next 30 years. I only had to replace the mattress once. The only problems I ever had were with the heaters. I finally gave it up for a latex mattress because it was getting too hard to climb in and out of the old-school frame, and too hard to find parts & sheets these days. I hope they do make a successful comeback!

I loved my waterbed! I started out on the traditional ones that were one or two bladders inside a wooden frame in 1982, then graduated to a softside one in 1986. I even bought a water mattress for my daughter's crib and her first beds had softside water mattresses. She never became a fan and converted to a traditional mattress in her tween years. I finally got a new non-waterbed mattress in 2012, but I still miss the old softside waterbed I had.

When I was in college during the mid-1970s, for a class project, some friends and I built (probably) the world's first solar powered waterbed heater - and used it to not only heat the water, but also the room. There was also a scientist/inventor (same time) who built a house with steel beam ceilings and lined his ceilings with black water bags - designed to absorb radiate heat during the winter, and be cooled at night by sprayed water for the summer. I'll bet it eventually leaked, but the idea is pretty interesting.

I’m a Gen-X’er with a few friends whose parents had waterbeds in the 80s. Never got why anyone would want to sleep in one—felt like lying on a raft in a storm—but they were great for wrestling practice!

Because there’s motion in the ocean....

What's a Casper world?

I love the newer ones which look just like a regular mattress. Been a fan since the 80's.I have 4 of the newer ones and when guests sleep on them they tell me they've gotten the best sleep ever.They have baffling inside that stops the motion. Only one person has refused to use one. In winter you turn the heat up so no cold sheets. The bed cradles you so your back and joints feel great. I use Boyd waterbeds. Nothing like a good waterbed!

If the headline says something about a "Casper world", maybe somewhere the article should explain what Casper is.

The summer of 1967 I was in Air Force Basic Training, Lackland Texas ....it was no summer of love for me :-)

I am Generation X, and when I was 13 I begged my parents for a waterbed. I got it, and it was just a big sloshy bag of water, but I loved it and conditioned it and kept that bed for ten years. One day it slithered off the platform (my parents let me put it together) and that was the end of my waterbed experience. I sleep on a latex mattress now. I'm really curious about how these Afloat mattresses feel. I bet you these beds are going to be crazy popular!

Fun article but it doesn't really say how the Afloat bed differs from soft sided waterbeds that have been available for years. We have one that has dual bladders, dual heaters and accepts regular fitted sheets. I'd like to know what innovations Afloat has made and if the innovations are significant or just marketing hype . Ms Green left out the most important info.

Friends and I rented an apartment in the late 70's. One of the bedrooms had an old school waterbed. We fought over that room, and Mike ended up with it. Unbeknownst to us, waterbeds need a heater...Mike was blue every morning. We let him keep the room.

The model looks like she is going to injure her ankles in that endless-legs pose. I hope the mattress offsets that discomfort.

Ah, I miss my king size waterbeds! Oldest daughter created on that bed! For an aging paratrooper with a missing leg, it would be so much more comfortable than even the most expensive mattresses. But I do remember the first one leaked out of a corner. And then it poured. You can imagine water gushing through your living room. At two a.m. I had to open the front door. The store refused an exchange. So I made a sandwich billboard and walked in front of their entrance on University Ave NE, Seattle! As you can imagine, all would be customers stopped first, and then none entered. I got my exchange with a new, much better version. And made my daughter. Think I will have to check out the links here. Thanks for the update.

Glad to hear that there's still some waves to make in the waterbed world and that Mr. Hall is still with us. The wife and I have been thinking of getting a new bed, as in new waterbed. My current frame is from 1978, the only one I've ever owned. The mattress is about a decade old and is probably (based on an aging memory) only the third one in it. It's the second motion suppressed version, provided mainly by a big pad of polyfiber that is inside the bladder. I have multiple back injuries and the waterbed is the only place I can manage to get good sleep sleeping on. Being able to dial in some extra heat is good. This temp control is something that has a bit of a time lag in it, due to the need to change the temp of a mass of water, but if you're patient dialing it in makes for a good temp to sleep, winter or summer. I do miss being able to get supplies and sheets without a hassle. Maybe mailorder is the way to go, but I'm hoping for a revival in the market. There's lots of cheap brick and mortar retail available and there's nothing like flopping down on one to make a believer out of a waterbed skeptic. Sleep well.

My husband and I slept on waterbeds for over 20 years. We upgraded from a sloshy bag to a heated baffled mattress which was an improvement. Heated being the operative word for me. It was lovely to get into a warm bed on a cold wintry night. We no longer use one but I might have to check out these new updated models.

In the 90s I enjoyed a smaller cousin, the water pillow. It was a fiber-filled pillow that held a water bag in the center, and it was the best pillow I've had, conforming to my head and very comfortable. When the water bag burst and I couldn't find replacements (the pillow was discontinued), I replaced the water bag with an air bag, which was almost as good, but it kept deflating. I still use the container pillow on top of another pillow, and it's still better than the foams and gels that pass for pillows now.

I owned a waterbed in Sydney, Australia in the mid 1970's. Yes, the decade of free love, and while in retrospect, one can tag them as cheesy, "lame sex props", actually, yes, they were cheesy, "lame sex props". My wife, 40 years and counting, ended our third date on mine. Sometimes cheesy, "lame sex props" are, well, fun. I love you New York Times, but serious wholesomeness isn't always romantic or erotic. Wasn't it a New Yorker, Dorthy Parker, who quipped, "sex without sin is like an egg without salt"?

I have enjoyed sleeping on a waterbed for the past 30 years. I initially purchased my first one at the recommendation of my Doctor to help with my chronic back pain. My back has been painless ever since. There is no better feeling on a cold winter night than climbing into a warm waterbed. The new wave-less mattresses almost make you forget that you are on a waterbed, but still provide the same benefits. There is a monthly cost in electricity to keep it at temperature, but to me it is one expense I don't mind. As long as replacement mattresses are available I'll sleep on a waterbed.

No fair! We of the "more seasoned" vintage are interested in good sleep AND other benefits! Actually I would say that we have the experience, incomes and need to better appreciate the multifaceted attributes of a waterbed.

If there's a Pulitzer Prize for quotes, this deserves it: Mr. Hall said that he hopes Afloat’s market will be not just aging, achy boomers, but Gen Xers and millennials. “It’s like salmon,” he said. “They’ll return to the place where they were spawned.”

It makes sense to me that Millennials are interested in waterbeds. They were probably made on one. Unfortunately I get seasick sleeping on them.

I'm almost 60 and still looking for the "perfect" bed for me. I'm very curious about these 'newer" waterbeds compared to one's my older sister's boyfriends had in the early 70's which is the last time I actually laid down on one... Can anybody share some of their experiences on these newer breed of waterbeds? I think I might want one...maybe... Thanks in advance for any replies.

To everything there is a season... Seems appropriate to this article.

I've been sleeping on a waterbed since the 1970's. The original, while great, sloshed. But modern waterbeds don't. "Mr. Shoulberg said “. . . The water bed is simple. It’s a big bag that holds water.” No, the good ones -- I have such now -- are side bolstered for edge support and, importantly, baffled internally to reduce sloshing to almost zero. That internal side bolstering means one does not need the external wooden-box frame. The first were bags of water. Today's are engineered for utility, performance and durability.

My brother had a handmaid quilt company back in the 1970's, and he also had an early model water bed. This was the type that was not very sophisticated, where "waves" would slosh. It would do this especially during sex, if you and your partner got your timing down it was awesome. I loved it.

I have RA and never slept better than on my channeled waterbed, bought in 1986. I got 25 years and many moves out of it. I now have a memory foam mattress and hate it. I'd go back to a water bed in a heartbeat. For joint problems there is absolutely nothing better.

FYI The waterbed was first mentioned in a Robert Heinlein novel: "gin a Strange Land" written in 1961.. From Wikipedia: "Waterbed Stranger in a Strange Land contains an early description of the waterbed, an invention that made its real-world debut in 1968. Charles Hall, who brought a waterbed design to the United States Patent Office, was refused a patent on the grounds that Heinlein's descriptions in Stranger in a Strange Land and another novel, Double Star (1956), constituted prior art." :-)