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Who is
Dr. Breus is double board certified in Clinical Sleep Disorders* and Clinical Psychology.** In addition to his Clinical practice in southern California, he is also the author of three books on sleep and health. Doctor Breus provides advice and commentary as the “go-to” sleep expert for The Dr. Oz Show, was the sleep expert for WebMD for 15 years, and has been interviewed many times by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, and The Huffington Post. He also makes frequent appearances on national television such as the Rachel Ray Show, CBS Early Show, Fox & Friends and many others..
* American Board of Sleep Medicine
** American Board of Psychology
When we set out to design our products, we wanted to create beds that are as healthy as they are comfy. So, it only made sense to seek out advice from one of the world’s foremost, board certified sleep doctors, Dr. Michael J. Breus.
Hybrid Slumber System
"I was worried that the medium firm would have been harder than I wanted, but it is perfect. It's a great combination of sinking into bed and floating off to sleep. I would absolutely refer others."
Latex Slumber System
"Luma has made it possible for your bed to adapt to your needs in the moment, and over the long term."
The common denominator
Over the years, Dr. Breus realized that one of the most frequent questions his patients asked was, “what bed should I buy?” While there are some great mattresses out there, constant changes in names, prices and specifications made it impossible for him to recommend any one model. Based on his clinical practice and his own research, he identified the four factors of mattress design that are critical to better sleep. With this knowledge, his patients and friends could ask the right questions, and find the right bed for their individual needs.
Most bedding brands only talk about reducing pressure, but positive pressure is also necessary. As Dr. Breus says, “Sleeping comfort is enhanced by balanced pressure, giving the lower back positive pressure and the hips and shoulders pressure relief”. A well designed mattress should fill in and support your lower back, while minimizing pressure on your hip and shoulder. This approach ensures good circulation and progressive back support that minimizes tossing and turning.
Our team and Dr. Breus believe that Talalay latex is the best material to achieve this ideal pressure balance. The natural resilient and responsive cell structure of Talalay latex combines the gentle, uplifting support with the pressure alleviation your body needs to sleep more deeply. While many bedding brands use a thin layer of this naturally derived material, Luma uses meaningfully thick layers of Talalay latex to achieve balanced pressure for your entire body while preventing you from experiencing the pressure points and lower back pain common in mattress designs made with a combination of “special foams”, memory foam and unresponsive block foam.
We’ve all heard about “orthopedic support” and seen images of people in a perfect sleep postures with dotted lines to demonstrate the efficacy of the product. According to Dr, Breus, “It is truly important to keep your body in a naturally relaxed position while you sleep in order to avoid the muscle cramping and tightening that can wake you and leave you stiff and drowsy in the morning”. When the spine is in correct alignment, muscles can more easily relax and when your muscles are relaxed, you can get more deep, restorative sleep.
Because very few of stay in an ideally aligned position all night, Luma’s pocketed coil and latex support systems work in concert with the Talalay comfort layer to properly support your spine, whether you sleep on your side, on your back or somewhere in between. Every layer of a Luma Mattress or Slumber System is designed to dynamically adapt to your unique shape and sleeping position in order to keep your back and body in a gently supported, sleep-friendly balance.
Have you ever had one of those nights where you’re either freezing, or throwing off the covers despite having your thermostat set to a cool 70 degrees or so? Then it’s likely a primary driver of your discomfort is poor temperature moderation at the sleep surface. When the temperature under the covers stays neutral (82-86 degrees), your body can stay in deep sleep longer. As you fall asleep, your core body temperature drops. Then, as you go into even deeper stages of sleep, your core temperature drops again. If you get too cold, you will partially wake in order to warm up a bit with movement. If your body gets too warm, you are pulled out of deep sleep and cool yourself by tossing off the covers… only to get chilly and repeat this sleep-disruptive cycle.
Based on the Doctor’s research and advice, Luma prioritized putting a naturally breathable, temperature neutral comfort material in the top layers of every mattress we make. That guiding principle led us to turn once again to Talalay latex foam. Unlike, closed-cell memory and polyurethane foams that trap heat – yes, even the ones with “cooling gel” – Talalay’s naturally breathable, open cell structure allows air to circulate. This natural temperature regulation wicks away excess heat and moisture to keep you in the ideal temperate zone for deep sleep.
It’s a bed, not a trampoline so the less abrupt movement, created by your bed partner (or say an overly rambunctious puppy or child) the better. It seems obvious that unnecessary motion is bad thing, but many traditional mattress designs actually magnify a bed partner's movements. “If you’re a light sleeper, even small movements can lead to “micro arousals” that disrupt your sleep cycle. They are so small, that you likely don’t remember them, but they have a negative impact all the same.” says Dr. Breus. Limiting or dampening motion transfer will maximize the quality of your sleep.
Luma’s support systems follow the Sleep Doctor’s 4th prescription. Our beds feature either individually wrapped pocket coils or movement dampening Dunlop Latex to virtually eliminate motion transfer. Pocketed Coils and latex are widely considered to be the best motion dampening support materials and are mostly used in luxury mattresses.
