J: On average, we spend one third of our time in bed.
Fifty-six hours a week.
Two hundred and forty hours a month.
Two thousand, eight hundred, and eighty hours a year
- which is approximately...one hundred and twenty days.
A year!
And that is just the norm.
But I am not the norm.
I really love my bed.
No, I REALLY love my bed.
I have a thing called chronic fatigue, which is...
pretty much exactly what it says on the tin.
I jest - there are a whole range of other symptoms!
This video is just about the most obvious one.
If you want to know more, I have a video about that.
Having chronic fatigue means I am liable to extreme exhaustion.
I tend to yawn
in my friend's faces a lot.
And just fall asleep at parties.
I probably spend 70% of my time in bed.
But Jessica, I hear you ask,
what on Earth are you doing with all that time in bed?
My bed isn't just used in the night. Oh, no!
It is my home office,
my dining table,
my dressing table.
The thing my friends gather around.
Our family space.
As you probably guessed, I get through mattresses quite quickly.
Flat beds are annoying, having to constantly build pillow forts.
But I have a new bed from Simba!
Fun fact: I actually like this bed.
And not only does it have a super durable mattress,
it also has a remote!
And features!
Features!
I've never had a bed with features before.
So, I thought I would test out the bed and mattress
and show you a week in the life of my bed.
People might say, "It must be lovely to spend all that time in bed."
But let's make one thing clear:
It isn't.
It isn't a choice, and it isn't a holiday from my normal, healthy life.
I can't choose to have a healthy body, but I can choose to be joyful in my soul.
My bed is just a tool to manage my illness,
much like my wheelchair is.
Doing as much as possible from bed means I'm able to do more of it once I'm out.
Some days, however, I can't get up at all.
C: Jessie?
C: You OK?
C: I made some Diet Coke.
C: Are you feeling OK?
J: No.
J: I would like to get up and do some work;
I was supposed to film today and I had a meeting planned, but
nope, there's no moving Jessica today.
Thank God for YouTube,
and a massage function to stop my legs from getting palsies.
That's when they paralyse because I haven't moved them in a while.
It isn't great.
But the massage function is! Even the dogs seem to like it.
Some days, my body doesn't work but my mind does, and that's actually pretty great.
I might not be able to sit up or anything,
but I still have the presence of mind to get things done.
I can even do my make-up and get ready from my bed,
then film here if I'm still not feeling any better.
Some days, I don't have to stay in bed all day;
it's just a comfy place to rest my body.
The dogs still like to snuggle up on it, though.
I went to London this day, and was really exhausted when I got back
so my friends changed dinner out to being dinner in!
It's amazing to have people in my life who are so understanding about fatigue
and don't judge what I can or cannot do, but instead merely accept it.
Spending a lot of time in bed is lonely,
even if you do have a really fun bed with features.
So make sure, if there's someone in your life who has low energy,
that you show them love and remind them that you're here for them.
You don't have to be "bed-bound" to be a heavy bed user
and you don't have to feel alone.
I am right here with you.
PS Being sick is just your body's way of saying that you are too awesome
and you need to slow down so everyone else can catch up.
So, in conclusion,
the bed is pretty epic.
Even Tilly rather likes it.
It's nice to have features.
I really like the massage function. That's really good for palsies.
That's a lot of fun.
I like that it has three modes at the top of the panel.
That is really helpful.
Rather than having to scroll around all the different ones, and the up and the down,
Have you made it the same up as the same down, as the other side?
Who knows?
But, no, the three modes on the top -
always the same; touch them at the same time:
the bed moves as one
Very handy.
I also like that there's a torch on the top of it.
That's good if you need to go and pee in the middle of the night.
We did, however, turn off the under-bed lights
because they just came on every time the dogs walked around
- which they apparently do a lot.
And as a deaf person, I am very light sensitive.
Probably one of the questions that you have is about there being two sides to this bed.
They're two single beds kind of pushed together, really, and
does that uncomfortable thing happen where you fall into the gap in the middle of the night?
No. That's a really bad mattress, then, if that does that.
Because they're the same density, and very firm,
they hold very well.
Claudia very happily still manages to migrate to my side of the bed
every single night.
Other things to mention
are that they come and deliver, and take away your old mattress
to be sustainably recycled,
which is always good.
They can also send a team to help you put the bed together.
And! Simba have a one-hundred night happiness guarantee.
So, if in a hundred nights
you're not happy with your bed and your mattress,
you just let them know.
I mean, if it's night a hundred and one, that's on you
but...
before then, they will come and help!
I hope you enjoy this video
and that it's in some way...useful.
And you've learnt a little bit about what it's like when you have to spend your time in your bed.
And that it can be fun, actually!
It doesn't just have to be gloomy.
If you or someone you know spend an awful lot of time in bed,
let me know in the comments down below
what it is that you do just to keep yourself from getting bored.
Let's all share our tips and tricks--oh, bye, Tilly.
So sorry to have disturbed you with this video.
Goodbye and thank you for watching! I'll see you next time.