How to Sleep Like a Rock... on a Stone Bed?

Evidently Fred and Barney slept on the newest furniture craze to hit the U.S.

Yes, straight from Korea (where this trend started in 1990) is the stone bed. Yes, you read it correctly -- I said the Stone Bed.

"What do you mean, Dr. Breus?  A bed as firm as stone?"

No, actually, I mean stone, and in some cases mud.

“The beds are pretty much what they seem -– like a flat bench -- though they aren't made completely of stone. Stone makes up just the top layer of an approximately 4-inch sleeping platform. The beds can be made of quartz, mica, topaz and several varieties of jade, and feature embedded heating coils that give off a low, radiant heat.”
(source: "Some choose stone for a solid night's sleep," www.NorthNewJersey.com, 8/24/06)

What could possibly be the advantages of sleeping on a stone bed?

Well, for starters, they are hypoallergenic, they last forever, and their radiant heat is reported to soothe muscles.  Still, they aren't for everyone.  These beds are most popular with Koreans with relatives who grew up sleeping on traditional mats on hard surfaces.

In truth there is no current data to suggest that these beds are either beneficial or harmful, but I can tell you that if you have your back muscles tensed all evening long, you can wake up with a backache in the morning.

Not to mention another difficulty mentioned in the above-cited article: one person had to pay movers an extra $700 to move the bed -- roughly the price you'd pay to move a piano!