Kingsdown to open sleep research center

MEBANE, N.C. — Bedding major Kingsdown is launching a Sleep to Live Research Center to study the importance, impact and development of healthful sleep.


The facility in Joplin, Mo. will open June 1, focusing on how people sleep and scientific methods to improve sleep quality.
“Our extensive research during the past 15 years has demonstrated the enormous benefits of healthy sleep, as well as the serious consequences of sleep deprivation,” said Eric Hinshaw, Kingsdown chairman and CEO. “With our own sleep research center, we will study how the environment affects sleep, and as a company, we will be able to enhance the BodyDiagnostics program and create new products that enhance sleep. We also will be able to better educate retailers and consumers about the importance of quality sleep.”
Heading the sleep center is Robert Oexman, who has joined Kingsdown as vice president of strategic development and research. He was formerly vice president of marketing for Leggett & Platt.
“The new sleep center will not be a typical research and development facility focused on bedding materials and how they perform. Instead, we will concentrate on how people sleep,” said Oexman.
David Scott, who worked with Oexman at L&P, has joined Kingsdown as director of research, with responsibility for analyzing the relationship between sleep products and sleep quality. 
“Sleep plays such an important role in our quality of life,” Oexman said. “Lower back pain and lack of concentration, for example, are often attributed to the aging process, when in reality they may be sleep problems. Most people don’t even know they have a sleep problem. We will enhance public awareness about the impacts of poor sleep, as well as provide doctors with researched-based information about improving the sleep environment.”