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  • 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.

J: On average, we spend one third of our time in bed.

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