A bed that floats

    The product: Floating Bed

    Headquarters: Fairfield, Iowa

    John Huff, 61, an inventor, has always been interested in medicine, and spent time reading studies about motion and its benefits to the body, such as improved circulation and muscle tone. He began wondering why waterbeds hadn't caught on (short answer: it has to do with water and the inner ear), and from there, came up with the idea of having a bed that floats in mid-air.

    It took $400, 000 and about five years of tinkering with his concept -- which in a nutshell has a bed hanging from the frame, instead of resting on top of it -- before he could reach the point of mass production.

    The media noticed. Huff took his bed on ABC TV's series American Inventor that ran in 2006 and 2007 where an impressed judge quipped, "Sleep is the new sex." It also made an appearance on ABC's Extreme Makeover and The Tonight Show, and the bed is on display at Disney's theme park Epcot. Although they are expensive -- a queen bed is $3,995 -- the beds sell well, said Huff, adding that his biggest clients are hotels.

    These beds are like sleeping in your mother's womb, he said. "We've created an entirely new niche."

A cool fan

    The product: Bedfan

    Headquarters: Snook, Texas

    Eleven years ago, Kurt Tompkins, a cattle rancher, was having a hard time dealing with Texas' sweltering nights. At first, he tried air-conditioning, but the bills got too high. Then, he tried leaving his windows open, but found himself waking up in a pool of sweat. His next solution turned out to be a cool idea, literally.

    In 2001, Tompkins, 46, designed a contraption that would evolve into the Bedfan, a tall, flat device that stands at the end of a bed and sends cool air under the sheets.The invention worked well. But it was only after Tompkins saw that it worked for his mother-in-law -- she suffered from night sweats due to menopause -- that he began to think there was a market for it.

    The following year, he formed Tompkins Research, Inc., found capital and made a prototype. In 2003, he only sold a couple hundred, but word-of-mouth and some high profile publicity (the ladies on The View loved it), helped boost orders to its current 10,000 a year. Revenues have been growing 100 percent a year, he said.

    Today, the cooling system has found fans beyond menopausal women and Texas cattle ranchers who hate high electric bills. Chemotherapy patients, sufferers of multiple sclerosis, or just anyone who gets hot at night will benefit, Tompkins said.

    Bedfan customers wind up having "the best sleep of their lives," said Tompkins.

Sublime mattress

    The product: Beyond Luxury Sublime mattress

    Headquarters: Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

    Earl Kluft has been in the sleep business for most of his waking life. His grandfather started the E.S. Kluft & Company, a mattress business, in 1946. And Kluft, now 62, got his start there at 14, working in the sewing room, until he climbed the ladder to CEO. His company has long specialized in upscale mattresses -- Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan were some of its high profile customers -- but Kluft wants to take his company to the next level.

    Last year, he introduced the made-to-order Beyond Luxury Sublime mattress, which is filled with cashmere, mohair, silk, certified organic cotton and New Zealand wool. The mattress costs a whopping $44,000, reportedly making it the most expensive in America.

    Every once in a while, other Kluft mattresses will go for more wallet-friendly prices. Bloomingdale's had one model on sale for $2,399. But customers should not hold their breath waiting for cheap versions. His next move is to introduce the Cameo, which will retail for $50,000.

    America may not make the best cars, sunglasses or watches, said Kluft, but it "makes the best mattresses, period."

Sleep Coach

    The product: Sleepy Bug

    Headquarters: Wyndmoor, Pa.

    New babies often mean many a sleepless night for parents. Not necessarily so, says Andrea Elovson, 44, a sleep coach, who offers an arsenal of solutions for sleepless parents and the children who keep them up.

    "Lack of sleep with new parents is always this kind of jokey thing," said Elovson, but it is really a serious issue.

    Elovson knows how bad it can get. When her first son Alden was born, his sleeplessness exhausted her so much that she often forgot to take her bra off when she showered. She knew she had a serious problem when she forgot sterilizing pacifiers on the stove and almost burned the house down.

    That's when the journalist began researching pediatric sleep and soon came up with techniques that quickly sent her son night, night. In 2005, she launched her company Sleepy Bug to educate other parents.

    "Andrea has created a program that is desperately needed," said Karen Kleiman, the director of the Postpartum Stress Center, Rosemont, Pa., in a testimonial on Elovson's web site.

    New and expectant parents hire Elovson, now a mother of three, for $100 a house visit or $80 for a one-hour phone session. She also holds sleep workshops. Strategies are as simple as establishing routines for the baby or more complex, depending on the clients' needs, she said. Elovson gets about 12 new parents a month and said her business is building momentum.

    "A sleep coach can offer support and vital information to alleviate the exhaustion, stress and worry of new parenthood," said Elovson.

Sona pillow

    The product: Sona Pillow

    Headquarters: Waterford, N.Y.

    A snorer can be a nightmare, especially for the person who sleeps with one. But pleasant dreams can be had with the Sona Pillow, said Bob O'Connell, the vice president of sales and marketing at Soft-Tex, the manufacturer.

    The Sona Pillow was invented by Harvard-educated neurologist Dr. Najeeb Zuberi, who wanted to help sufferers of sleep apnea, a condition that causes people to stop breathing temporarily. "Sleep apnea is a serious health problem that can be fatal,'' said O'Connell. Football player Reggie White died of the condition and Jerry Garcia, the lead singer of the Grateful Dead, died of complications caused by it, he added.

    For its first three years, the pillow was sold exclusively at Brookstone but can now be found in stores like JC Penney and Kohl's.

    O'Connell himself uses a Sona Pillow, but only sleeps five hours a night. "But those five hours are five quality hours," he said.

Sleeptracker

    The product: Sleeptracker

    Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga.

    Lee Loree's wife is not the nicest woman when she is roused from a restful sleep, which is why Loree was surprised when she woke up one morning at 2 a.m. and had the most pleasant conversation with him. She can be "an ornery cuss," he said good-naturedly.

    The incident, which occurred in 1999 got Lee, 38, thinking about how people sleep and the best times to wake them up. He spent several years researching his idea and came up with a gadget that could analyze sleep data.

    His prototype was a gutted $8 watch from Walmart, which according to Loree ''looked like trash." But he improved it and started Innovation Sleep Solutions LLC in 2005, which sells the Sleeptracker, a lightweight watch that monitors and stores information on the wearer's sleep habits.

    Every morning, users upload that data to their computers and can pinpoint their most restful moments during the night. Once they know this, they can modify their habits for better sleep. The watch also can be programmed to wake up users with an alarm, or vibration, at the best time in their sleep cycles. This way they wake up less groggy and more refreshed.

    Interest in the watch is strong. Currently, Innovation Sleep Solutions has annual revenues of $3 million.

SleepPhones

    The product: SleepPhones

    Headquarters: Bellefonte, Pa.

    In 2007, Wei-Shin Lai, a family physician, was having trouble sleeping, especially after she came back home from emergency calls."I couldn't take a sleeping pill because I needed to be aware for the next call and even though I was tired, I couldn't relax my mind," she said. Eventually, someone recommended she listen to soothing music on headphones.

    But the headphones were uncomfortable. That is until her husband covered both speakers in cloth and then inserted them into a headband. "Once we came upon that idea, we realized it might help a lot of people sleep, including some of my patients who take sleeping pills," said Lai.

    From there, Lai and her husband, Jason, spent about $10,000 of their own money creating a prototype and launching their company, AcousticSheep, LLC. In 2009, they worked with the Penn State Small Business Development Center on their business model. It was a good move. Sales in 2010 were about $600,000 and projections for this year are expected to be $1 million.

    "I think people are starting to realize just how important sleep is," said Lai. "Previously it was work-work-work, but I think people are starting to realize that to live a holistic lifestyle it's really important to sleep well."