The Backstory: Let’s get in bed

We take our beds for granted. But how and where we slept, as well as who we were with and what we did while in bed, has changed dramatically over the centuries.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah, there's nothing like slipping between cool, fresh sheets on
a soft bed. You sink in and you feel the
stress slip away. Right, But what were our beds like
one hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand or more
years ago? I'm Patty Steele. The real kind of skeevy
meaning of hit the hay. Next on the backstory. We're

(00:25):
back with the backstory. Pretty much every living thing needs sleep, right,
But how we do it and where has drastically changed
over the centuries. Some of us are on the picky side.
We want a certain temperature, soft sheets, a mattress that's
soft but supportive, fluffy pillows. Maybe you want one that
can be elevated or stays cool on a hot night. Now,

(00:49):
toss those modern day expectations out the door and let's
head back ten thousand years When hunter gatherer societies were nomadic.
They had to bed down wherever they happened to be.
But guess what they wanted the same things you and
I want a little shut eye in a soft spot
where we could stay warm, dry, and most importantly for

(01:11):
them safe. Now, for them, that amounted to a bowl
shaped pit in the ground that they filled with leaves
and grass for a mattress and for blankets again, leaves
and grasses in warmer weather, some of which actually worked
as an insect repellent, and animal skins if it was cold.
The pit was bowl shaped so they could curl up

(01:32):
in a little ball to preserve body heat, and periodically
they'd burn the whole thing, most likely after the bedding
tried out and finally loaded up with bugs, which is
a lovely thought. Now let's move into ancient Egypt around
four thousand years ago. We can thank them for getting

(01:52):
the bright idea to elevate beds off the ground. Those
table like platforms were made of wood or bronze, and
they kept us off the cold ground and when it
was hot, allowed air to circulate. It also made it
tougher for animals like rats and mice, as well as
bugs or snakes to crawl over our faces while we
were tucked in. On the other hand, the Egyptians had

(02:15):
a weird substitute for our nice comfy pillows. They used
what were called headrests. These were things to prop the
head up. They had like a flat base with a
concaved raised section to fit around your neck. These headrests
are seen in artwork, and they were found in Egyptian tombs.
They were made of marble, ivory, stone, ceramic, wood, and

(02:38):
even glass. Doesn't sound very comfortable. Why did they do that? Well,
it propped your head up to allow cool air to
circulate around your neck and also to prevent those bugs
and other critters from crawling into your mouth, nose, eyes,
and ears while you slept. Sounds cozy, huh. They also
believed raising the head up would keep it protected bad spirits. Now,

(03:02):
by two or three thousand years ago, folks in ancient
Rome had an even better idea. Moneyed types slept on
raised beds made of metal, but it had a flexible
woven metal support system and feather or straw stuffed mattresses.
Less wealthy folks had similar beds made from wood with
wool strings holding up the mattress, and most people used

(03:25):
wool blankets for covers by that time. Now, by the
Middle Ages, beds, at least for the rich, became really
lavish and were such a status symbol. Owners would Greek
guests and business associates while in bed, even eating meals. There.
These heavily carved pieces of furniture with down stuffed mattresses
were so treasured they were handed down through generations and

(03:49):
sometimes represented as much as a third of the value
of the entire home. These beds were fitted with linen sheets,
wool blankets, and velvet drapes all around. They frequently had
pull out trundle beds underneath for kids or servants, and
were sometimes so big six or more people could comfortably
sleep together. Weren't big on privacy in those days, I guess.

(04:13):
In fact, travelers would often be welcomed into homes not
a lot of hotels back then, and they would even
share the family bed. Traveling co workers and even strangers
meeting on the road would often share a bed at
an inn. Sleeping communally was totally a thing for these guys. Now,
if you were poor in those days, you'd sleep on

(04:33):
a hay stuffed bag on the floor or on a
small platform and get this before turning in for the night,
you would have to beat the mattress to get rid
of all the nesting bugs and mice, and that is
the origin of the term hit. The hay gives it
a whole new meaning as a sidebar. During the Renaissance,

(04:53):
most beds were fairly short. Why well, yeah, the people
were not only shorter then, but they regularly up kind
of propped up, leaning back against a mound of pillows.
They believed it protected you from breathing the crumby air
that hovered over your body at night. They called it
noxious air. It wasn't until the seventeen hundreds the cotton

(05:16):
replaced the bug filled hay or down as mattress stuffing.
And that's also when servants and kids stop sleeping on
the floor nearby the parents' bed, so that is when
the bedroom began to get a little more private. By
the late eighteen hundreds we saw the arrival of metal
bed springs to support the mattress. Now, on the upside,

(05:37):
they gave the bed more support and more comfort, but
on the downside they made the bed crazy squeaky every
time you tossed and turned or got a little frisky.
The twentieth century and on into our moment in time
has seen the arrival of water beds, which kind of
faded out, and we have bedding invented by NASA memory foam,

(05:58):
which was created by research looking to cushion astronauts during flights.
We also have air filled mattresses mattresses that can track
your sleep, and soon mattresses that can detect illness. We
spend one third of our lives sleeping, so our beds
have been a huge presence in our lives for thousands
of years. Historians say Winston Churchill ran a lot of

(06:22):
World War Two sitting in bed with a glass of
whiskey and a big cigar, surrounded by papers, dispatches and visitors.
Our beds are our place for sleep and sex, but
we also talk, think, pray, or meditate, recover from illness,
and even eat some meals in bed, nothing like breakfast

(06:42):
in bed. Women have given birth in beds, and we
generally end our lives in bed. It is our refuge.
I'm Patty's d bill. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia,

(07:03):
Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group and Steel Trap Productions.
Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We
have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to
reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions
on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook at
Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele.

(07:24):
The pieces of history you didn't know, you needed to know.