Adjustable Beds – More than the Hospital Look   by Thom Sanders

Many people, when they think about adjustable beds, start thinking about the beds that everybody knows from hospital. Whilst it's true that hospitals are fitted with adjustable beds, and that these are kept quite stripped down and simple so that cleaning them, looking after patients and changing sheets are quicker and easier, they are totally different to those that you can have fitted in your home in almost every way (except, of course, the fact that they are adjustable).

Let's take a more detailed look at the adjustable beds that you'll find in a hospital. They are quite high, allowing medical staff to easily and comfortably reach the patient, and can have bars raised on either side to stop the patient from falling out. There are also bars at the head and foot of the bed that serve the same purpose. The beds are Spartan, bare and entirely practical. It would be a very odd bedroom in which they did not look out of place. The wheels that they are on, which allow them to be manoeuvred throughout a ward or hospital, are also a very striking feature. The beds do move on hinges like the home-based versions, and they are easy to keep clean and change the sheets on, but those are their only real advantages.

Now let us turn to the adjustable beds which you are able to get in your home. It would be a complete mistake to lump them in the same category as hospital beds when they only similarity is that they are adjustable. Instantly, you will see that the designs are totally different. Gone are the bars at the sides, head and foot of the beds, replaced with proper head and footboards should you want them. The unusually high frame also disappears, and you'll find that you can get a bed in a wide variety of styles and designs. There won't be a problem finding one that fits the style of your room, so you needn't worry that you'll have any interior decoration nightmares after your purchase.

Of course, the main thing that you look for in an adjustable bed is for it to actually adjust, and with the home-based varieties you'll discover that they can do this even better than the beds you'll find in a hospital a lot of the time. Although some hospitals have beds with two hinged sections, not all do, and beds with more than one hinge are far more common in home-based adjustable beds than they are in hospital beds. So, as you can see, you needn't worry about getting some barred and wheeled monstrosity.