Choosing a new mattress or losing sleep – a cold war! To end this cold war I have created this blog an ultimate mattress buying guide to help you make the cozy decision process easy. Finding a new mattress is a confusing, tiresome, and frustrating task. Choosing a mattress based on composition, price and other factors requires intensive product research ie; it involves choosing between hundreds of brands online or from retailers or brick and mortar stores.
Through this guide, we will explore the following points.
- Mattress life (when to replace your mattress)
- Mattress type (difference and similarity between memory foam, latex, innerspring, airbed, and hybrid mattresses)
- Budget (purchasing and key performing factors)
- Firmness
- Sleeping position
- Body weight
- A common myth regarding mattress buying and performance, potential places, and a final checklist of mattress shoppers.
Mattress life (how old is your mattress)
Regarding choosing a new one, the age of the mattress plays a vital role. As per general thumb rule, if your mattress is 8 years old then the idea should be made to replace it with a new one. Some quality and brand mattresses can go beyond 8 years and can provide the same level of comfort, quality, and performance. The best judgemental calls depend on your sleeping position and patterns.
While waking up if you are feeling restless, waking up from the pain, not sleeping through the night and you feel exhausted then it’s the alarm that indicated mattress replacement.
Mattress type (difference and similarity between memory foam, latex, innerspring, airbed, and hybrid mattresses)
What type of mattress do you need? Again, this is a good question. The type of mattress depends upon personal preference. This is the hardest choice to make as so many variations confuse us. Not to worry, I have divided the most common mattress types to help make your research and selection a little easier. To get a better idea of the mattresses you should check out between these;
Memory foam mattresses- are known for their significant support, pressure relief, and body contouring. Historically, memory foam has had a terrible reputation as “sleeping hot”. However many advance foams have been developed for super cooling properties
Example- Lux Estate Hybrid Pollock
Latex; I know these mattresses for their cooling properties and comfort. As they are made exclusively from latex. Latex is known for its great responsiveness, comfort, bounce, and cooling. It is best for sleepers who want great bounce, responsiveness, and cooling.
Coils
Coils aka innerspring mattress have one or more layers of spring coils. This provides support and comfort. With technological advancement, the number, type layers of coils change. Maximum coils user says better comfort and support. It is best for a great bounce, cooling, and strong edge poser. Example: Sealy Response Innerspring Mattress
Budget and pocket friendly
The budget varies from person to person and depends on several factors. A couple of years ago the only buying option was in-store which meant overpaying for a mediocre size mattress. Lack of options caused people to buy what’s available in-store and with no research and fewer options people end up buying wrong. The online mattress industry is helping the customer choose from varied options by building a mattress at fair and reasonable prices. With a modest budget, a consumer can get a great bed.
Expensive never means the best quality mattress. Retail store mattress price range dramatically influenced and inflated with a range of 300-1000%.
BUDGET MATTRESS STEPS- what to choose
- Price does not equate to quality
- $1000 budget is ideal
- For king/cal king slightly increases your budget
- Pay for quality
- Don’t go ultra-cheap (price isn’t a perfect indicator for quality)
Firmness
What is firmness? It is the hardness and softness of the mattress feel. The most common question which came to mind is “how firm a mattress should be?” This is one of the toughest questions to answer. The feel and firmness of a mattress depend on how soft, medium, and firm you want. What plays into the feel is your body type, weight, size, and other factors. Many times consumers confuse support with firmness. Good support means a mattress, which keeps your spine in proper alignment without creating pressure. Mattress giving less support will wake you up sore or in pain. Optimal firmness level goes hand-in-hand with comfort. Many online mattresses have developed a mattress that has universal comfort. Quarles furniture provides a great example of a design with one firmness level, the structure of the foam and layered design works to offer more comfort.
Sleeping position
It is important to know what position you sleep in? Side, back, stomach, or a little bit of each. Everyone sleeps in their unique pattern. The major problem is most people aren’t searching for a mattress that supports their sleeping style. The sleeping position of people has their own specific needs and ideal firmness level.Side
Sleepers who lie on their sides don’t always remain in the same position. With this constant change, side sleepers need a mattress with soft to medium level firmness, usually something in the 3-6 range out of 10 (where 10 is the most firm). A soft mattress with a lot of support will relieve pressure points on the sleeper’s neck and back. For side sleepers, firmness and feel are important. As they need a mattress, that’s soft enough to contour to the curves of their body. A too-firm mattress won’t contour to the shape of the side sleeper and lead to lower back pain, neck pain, and/or shoulder pain.Back
For back sleepers, firmness and support both are important. If a mattress is too soft it will create pressure points on the sleeper and will not provide the right amount of pushback they require. In addition to this sleeper’s spinal alignment will be off if the bed doesn’t support the sleeper and this could lead to prolonged back problems. The ideal mattress firmness is one that provides enough softness to eliminate pressure points and still has great support. firmness level in the range of 4-7 is appropriate.Stomach
Stomach sleepers prefer to support. The torso applies more pressure to the mattress. Because of this reason, sleepers need a mattress that provides equal support across their body. If the midsection sinks in the middle of the mattress the sleeper will experience a curving of the spine, and this will cause lower back pain and other problems. Concerning the surface of the mattress, a stomach sleeper needs to be very flat.. For them even a simple tall pillow could bring the spine out of alignment, causing pain and discomfort. Typically stomach sleepers mattress range should between 5-7
- Durability: Durability means prolonged use and performance. The average mattress will perform for seven years without excessive deterioration before replacement.
- Motion Isolation: Movement in bed creates motion transfer and this can cause sleep disruptions by noise whenever someone gets into or out of bed or shifts positions. A soft mattress with more adaptive comfort layers reduces motion transfer and isolate it to smaller areas of the sleep surface. This reduces the night time disruptions for couples.
- Pressure Relief: Some mattresses help align the spine and prevent pressure points from developing and adjust according to posture. Models with thicker comfort layers made of memory foam and/or latex tend to offer the best conforming and pressure relief.
- Pressure Relief: Some mattresses help align the spine and prevent pressure points from developing and adjust according to posture. Models with thicker comfort layers made of memory foam and/or latex tend to offer the best conforming and pressure relief.
- Temperature Neutrality: Some beds absorb and trap body heat and this causes sleepers to feel warmer than usual. This disrupts sleep.
- Off-gassing: All mattresses emit harmless off-gassing particles when they are new, but only foam and to a lesser extent latex carry an unpleasant odor. In most cases, matter days of off-gassing smells dissipate. Some models produce excessively strong odors that can persist for much longer.
- Edge Support: All mattresses are prone to sinkage at the edges of the bed where people tend to sit when they get up from or into bed. Mattresses with good edge support result in less sinkage when weight is applied to the sides of the bed.
- Support: Support refers to the bed’s ability to provide a flat, even surface that helps align the spine and pelvis, and the one which does not sink beneath heavier areas of the body.
