[lkozma]

What's with the obsession of spending money on the "best" bed. I find I sleep best on a very thin ~$20 mattress on the floor or on a polyfoam mattress when camping. In general a plain flat and hard surface seems to feel best for the back. The more advanced beds remind me a bit of the other big scam: running shoes. (end of rant and I didn't even mention chairs :)

[tyweir]

I'd simply add "buy the best bed _for you_." In your case, you lucked out, others may find only fancy mattresses are restful.

[jules]

Are running shoes a scam? My legs and feet say they aren't. With beds I tend to agree with you, but try sleeping without a matress when camping. It's doable but you tend to still be tired in the morning. So it's possible that a very good matress makes you sleep even better.

[tyweir]

The shoe scam quip references the resurgence of barefoot/forefoot running, which eliminates the need for heel shock absorption or "motion control" shoes (aka, the costly ones).

It's referred to ask a scam because running shoe retailers typically teach heel strike running and then offer costly shoes to mitigate injury.

If you're interested check out the book "Born To Run," google POSE running or check out crossfitendurance.com

[jules]

I was never taught heel strike yet I use it. It's not that the shoe retailers teach it, it's just the most natural way to run when you're wearing shoes. When you run barefoot you naturally switch to front strike. I'm going to try running barefoot again. The problem I had with it last time is that you can't run fast because when you run fast and you're exhausted you're going to hurt yourself by making small landing mistakes and by stepping on stones and tree branches and cracks in the road...anyone have experience seriously (i.e. not light recreational) running barefoot on less than ideal surfaces?

[jafran]

While the term "barefoot shoes" seems highly oxymoronic, it does accurately represent shoes like the Vibram 5 Fingers. These shoes also give you that initial impulse to run on the balls of your feet. Their main benefit is smoothing over gravel and my old nemesis, crushed up acorns (damn you mighty oaks!!!) I've run 6 5Ks in the shoes and will never go back to the thick healed shoes. I'm still a bit overweight but was much more overweight when I started running. Running on the balls of your feet makes you use your body's natural shock absorbers and not the cushioned heel. I highly recommend for anyone to try out some minimalist shoes. Also, one of the better terms to find out more on Google is "minimalist running".

[jules]

That's interesting, why would you never go back to normal shoes? How does sprinting on these shoes go?

[jerf]

My interest in this topic remains purely academic, but part of the barefoot resurgence is about using "shoes" that are little more than rubber wrappers around your feet, allowing natural motion but also protecting your foot. I have 0 experience with these, it just sounds like you might be interested. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1603650 is enough of a link to get started.

[steveklabnik]

My best friend's brother has a long history of back problems. He dropped a few grand on a TempurPedic, and they all but disappeared.

It's only one data point, but I'd imagine there are others.