Mattresses for Alternative Lifestyles

Though it seems as if “alternative living” is a new trend, the alternative lifestyle has been around for thousands of years. From Buddhist monasticism, early American utopian communities, countercultural lifestyles like “hippie” living, to modern-day van lifestyles, the idea of retreating or rebelling from societal norms has captivated millions of individuals since the beginning of civilization.

With the exponential increase of media and content projected onto our screens, alternative living is broadcast to the population more than ever before. Netflix’s Tiny House Nation presents an alluring look into the world of tiny house living. Vlogging channels on YouTube and TikTok gain millions of views for being “van-lifers.” YouTuber Divine On The Road has over 750,000 subscribers from vlogging about living in a van full-time, addressing topics like how much it costs to live that lifestyle or living in a van with two fully-grown dogs. If you live a mobile lifestyle, you need all the essentials. For truckers and RVers alike, the most important part of living on the road is getting a good night’s sleep. That’s where SleepDog® comes in.

SleepDog® Mattresses for Truckers

According to Census.gov, trucking is one of the largest occupations in the United States. Approximately 3.5 million people work as truck drivers. As of 2022, 1.5 million of those workers are long-distance freight truckers. An average trucker covers between 285 and 430 miles a day, spending upwards of 300 days a year on the road. Here at SleepDog®, we got you covered.

We aim to provide only the highest quality truck and tractor-trailer mattresses for some of the hardest workers on the road. Our truck mattresses are all DOT compliant and built to provide maximum comfort and support. Check out the SleepDog® Mattress, or try out our best-selling BigDawg Mattress™ risk free with our 120-night sleep trial. When shopping for your truck mattress upgrade, please visit our semi-truck mattress guide to find the right size for your truck configuration.

SleepDog® Mattresses for RVers

Many people use RVs for camping, others for travel, and more recently, as full-time living spaces. An RV, less commonly known as a Recreational Vehicle, is a motorized home with almost everything a regular household has: a kitchen, a living area, a bathroom, and a sleep area. At SleepDog®, we understand comfort in confined spaces, whether it is in a tiny house or a travel trailer. We offer our Original RV Mattress and Azul® RV Mattress exclusively in RV mattress sizes, but our classic SleepDog® Mattress and BigDawg Mattress™ are available in standard Queen, RV Queen, and RV King sizes.

1. Tiny House Living

There are lots of reasons to go tiny! A tiny home is a cheaper, more sustainable living solution for a single person or couple. Whether you like the minimalism of a tiny house, the affordable upkeep, or the novelty, tiny home living can be a breath of fresh air.

So, how do you fit a mattress in such a tiny home? A mattress in a box is the perfect solution. To ensure that your mattress fits comfortably in its space, measure your sleeping area before purchasing. We often recommend the Original RV Mattress or the Azul® RV Mattress for your tiny home to bring the comforts of a residential mattress into your space in a more consolidated size with the RV Queen or RV King sizes. If you have a lofted sleep space, we generally suggest the thinner profiles of our SleepDog® Mattress or BigDawg Mattress™.

1. Boat Living

During peak boating season, nothing says summer like falling asleep to the sway of the ocean and the scent of salty air. While boating is seasonal in northern states, southern states can cruise year-round. About 12 percent of U.S households own a recreational boat. As of 2022, 11.77 million boats were registered for leisure in the United States. Whether you’re an avid boater or recreational, if your boat offers a sleep space, a good mattress is essential to your sailing experience. Sleeping quarters in boats may not accommodate a standard size mattress, so we always suggest you measure your current boat mattress before you look at upgrading.

1. Van Living

Van living is a distinct lifestyle. Made popular by Tik Tok “van lifers,” more and more millennials and Gen-Zers turn towards the boho lifestyle. Following sentiments from the 1960s hippie movement, van living is a conscious effort to escape “traditional” values, such as working full- time, buying a home and paying mortgage. By going small, you can live big. Most vans range from 130 cm to 190 cm in width, or 4.5 to 6 ft. When deciding on a mattress for your van, you must measure the sleeping area because different van makes and models will have varying dimensions. Check out the semi-truck mattress size guide and our RV mattress size guide for specs on the different mattress sizes SleepDog® offers to find your perfect van mattress size.

1. Bus Conversion

Bus conversion is certainly a unique way to live. Not quite the van life and not quite the RV life, it falls somewhere in between. Bus living is appealing to many because a bus is much longer than a van and generally cheaper than an RV. A short school bus is usually 20 to 25 ft in length, with a medium school bus running 25 to 35 ft long in the United States. With all that space, the possibilities seem endless.

There are many floor plans available online for bus conversions to help maximize the potential of the space. No matter what size bus you have, there is usually always one thing in common: the bedroom location at the back of the bus. A mattress takes up a lot of space, so putting it on the back of the bus keeps the middle and front open for lounge, kitchen, bathroom, and storage spaces. Like a van, the easiest way to install a mattress is with SleepDog®. Since buses are very similar to RV spaces, any SleepDog® mattress model should be a suitable fit. However, if you’re trying to maximize underbed storage the 7” SleepDog® Mattress and 9” BigDawg Mattress™ should allow for more space underneath the bed frame.

1. Off-Grid Living

Have you ever found yourself watching Alaska: The Last Frontier or Life Below Zero and thought, I want that? If you have, then off-grid living is for you. Off-grid living means being entirely independent. You grow your own food, collect your own water, create your own energy source, and provide your own shelter. It can be a difficult way to live but the risk may be worth the reward for you. Off-grid living easily is the most sustainable way to live. It is also financially sustainable. There are no bills for electricity, mortgages, and groceries. Your home is solely your responsibility but it is also your oasis. With the ability to build your own shelter, your bedroom can be as large as you want and our sister company BedInABox® has the perfect mattress, the Eco- Lux® mattress, to supplement your sustainable lifestyle. For every Eco-Lux® mattress sold, they partner with OneTreePlanted to plant a tree, too.

1. Overlanding

No, overland isn’t just camping. Overlanders are explorers of remote, rarely explored locations. It is a journey of self-reliance, often made by bike or car. The most popular vehicles for overlanding are trucks and SUVs. Since the SUVs used for overlanding are often 4-wheel drives, you can usually push the seats down to convert the inside to a sleeping quarter. Our truck size mattresses may be the perfectly compact solution to fit in the back of your truck or SUV, too.

Regardless of your lifestyle, SleepDog® Mattresses are a flexible but durable mattress option, offering a good night’s sleep wherever home may be.