Sleeping on a Mattress vs. Sleeping on the Ground

I had an opportunity to write an article on the topic of how the mattress one selects can influence one's quality of sleep. Sleep quality is very important for WashingtoniD.C. insiders, so I wanted to commend sleeping on the ground as well.

I have slept on the ground for several years in Alaska and learned that one tends to belch turning to one's left rather than to one's right. I believe the stomach isn't symmetrical so that is a gravity channel phenomenon. Sleeping on the ground lets one feel every sort of vibration and earthquake travelling through the muskeg or dirt. One discerns the difference between the short earth waves, the back and forth jigglers and the ocean-like longer length waves. Earth tremors and an important and relaxing benefit of sleeping on the ground.

The opportunities for encounters with nature and wildlife are greater sleeping on the ground that on a mattress as well. One discovers the eagles are out and about early and late singing their calls through the forest, and occasionally one may have a bear, porcupine or adverse humans approach one's sleeping site to enliven the time. These features of sleep are absent from the mattress placed indoors-though one has the advantage of stepping down to earth from the mattress rather than getting up from it-especially important when the weather is inclement or cold enough to remain below freezing all day.

The perfect sleeper indoors may dream of paper clips and provisions for the condo. The ground sleeper tends to remain alert for danger, falling trees (last year in Wasilla there were so many of the freeze dried things crashing about that even the moose must have taken notice), moose kicking the tent sharing a winter trail, large clumps of snow falling to crush the tent from trees, or in Colorado,Texas or Florida occasional high winds flattening the tent like their hurricane cousins. Sleeping through the approach and passing of Hurricane Wilma years ago was informative.

Why would any politician choose to sleep on a comfortable mattress instead of the ground?