"Sleeping problems are purely behavioral or physical. The bottom line is that unless you have a chronic disease, your sleeping surface doesn't matter as much as people often think it does," Pelayo said.
Jeffrey Rehm does research into sleep at a clinic at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg. He said "sleep hygiene" -- not mattresses and linens -- is the most important element of getting a good night's rest. "That's an awful name for going to bed at the same time each night, avoiding alcohol -- things like that."
In fact, Rehm has no idea what types of mattresses are on the clinic's six beds.
Nonetheless, Peter Marino thinks the future of mattresses is in memory foam. People are just being introduced to it and they love it, he said.
Marino has been immersed in bedding for about 25 years. He is the author of "The Golden Rules of Selling Bedding" and "Stop Losing Those Bedding Sales!" published by Furniture World, a home furnishings magazine for retailers.
Marino said that foam-based mattresses are fast becoming cheaper to make than coiled systems. "Right now the placing of coils is virtually done by hand," he said.
Marino also has seen an increase in consumer knowledge and education about mattresses, although the old-fashioned belief that a hard mattress is the best for everyone is still a popular fallacy.
"We've learned a lot about sleep in the last 15 years and that is changing the industry," Marino said.
Jerry Epstein's concern wasn't mattresses or sheets, it was pillows that got hotter and more uncomfortable as the night wore on. He saw advertisements for the cutely named Chillow, a $25 pillow with a built-in pocket for water that is supposed to stay cool all night.
"I hate sleeping when I am hot, and this seemed like a really cool idea," said Epstein, a Washington lawyer whose wife prefers a tropical bedroom climate. He liked the Chillow and used it for about 10 days before he was defeated by the "difficult" task of getting all the air out of the pocket, filling it with water and making sure it was properly sealed.
It is now in a closet and Epstein is cuddling a pillow with no name.
