I guess you are reading this guide because you have realized that you need a mattress and you have decided that it is time to buy a new one (and not because you are curious about how the world of mattresses are today). It is possible that your current mattress hurts you or that you get up tired. Maybe you just want a bigger one. It may be that you are going to move and you do not want to carry your old mattress from one place to another. Be that as it may, my goal is to help you choose the right mattress so that you do not make the mistake of paying more than just and necessary.
The mattress is surely the most important object of your house (the TV does not count). If you sleep the recommended 8 hours per night, you will spend a third of your life on that mattress. That means that if you have the same mattress for 13.5 years (usually the average), 4.5 of those years you will spend on that mattress. However, many of us do not think much about our mattresses and how they impact our daily lives.
In this guide, I will go over the basic principles when choosing a good mattress. In other articles and questions that I have answered I have talked more in detail about some of these issues, but this should be enough as an initiation process.
- How old is your mattress?
The age of your mattress plays an important role in deciding if you need a new one. As a rule of thumb, if your mattress is more than 8 years old it is probably not a bad idea to consider buying a new one. However, this rule does not apply to all mattresses. There are some who are certainly able to endure more than 8 years without losing their most important qualities. The best way to judge it is to observe your sleep patterns.
If you are restless, you get up in pain, do not sleep at night, or just do not feel well rested, it’s time to think about changing mattress.
- How to buy a mattress: the most important factors
These are the most important factors to consider in a new mattress reviews:
SUPPORT – You want the mattress to hold you in a proper position from head to toe, so you do not wake up with back pain.
COMFORT – You do not want the mattress to push your body because it causes dizziness and numbness, which means you will get up tired.
FIRMING: You want the mattress to be comfortable just lying down, not noticing it hard or soft.
If you find a mattress that keeps you in a correct position without putting pressure on any part of the body, you have found the right mattress for you. There are other factors to keep in mind. These include:
Movement – You do not want to wake up every time your partner moves, or every time you walk in and out of bed.
Temperature – You want the surface of the bed to have a temperature similar to that of your skin. If a mattress is too hot (or even too cold), it may interrupt your rest. This is called thermo-neutrality.
Edge Firmness – You do not want to fall off the bed if you sleep near the edge.
We will analyze these factors in more detail.
2.1 Learn to analyze the support on a mattress
The most important factor to look for in a new mattress is that it has the correct support. The mattress has to “push” you up to counter the weight of your body. That means buying a hard mattress like a stone, right?
2.2 Identifies how to measure the comfort of a mattress
The second most important factor when choosing the right mattress is comfort (also called “comfort feeling” or “pressure relief”). If a mattress is too hard it can cause pressure on your body. This effect can cut off the circulation and pinch your nerves (that tingling sensation in your hands), causing you to change positions frequently at night.
When you change positions often, your rest breaks down and you never reach the deeper stages of sleep (such as the REM phase). This way you get up tired, even if you’ve had your 8 hours of sleep. When you go to try a mattress, you should be able to lie down and hold the same position for several minutes without moving. If you can, you’ve found a good mattress.
These are the two most important factors. If you find a mattress that keeps you in a correct position without causing pressure on your body, you have found a mattress ideal for you. To be able to fine tune the search from that point, there are other factors to consider.
3.1 What kind of firmness do you need?
Firmness is how hard or soft the mattress notes. One of the questions that most often ask me is “how hard is the mattress?”. It is also one of the most difficult questions to answer. The feeling of firmness of a mattress depends on your definition of soft, medium, and hard. It is very subjective. In addition, your body shape, weight, height, and other factors also come into play.
Many times, consumers confuse support firmly. While the support is related to the position of the body, firmness refers to the initial comfort of the mattress. Whether soft or hard, the optimal level of firmness goes hand in hand with comfort.
- Other factors
There are many other factors to consider when looking for a mattress.
3.1 Transmission of movement
If you share bed, the ideal is to minimize the transmission of movement. If your partner enters and leaves the bed, or changes position, you run the risk of being awakened if the mattress transmits those movements to your side of the bed. Try the mattress in the tent with your partner, and have him change positions while you are turned with his back to her, to see how many of those movements you notice.
3.2 Neutral temperature
Another problem that many people have is the heat retention of the mattress. Most good mattresses today have elements that help mitigate this effect.
3.3 Edge firmness
Finally, you have to take into account the firmness of the edge of the mattress, especially if you sleep near the edge of the bed. or sit on the edge of the bed often. Most mid-range or higher-end spring mattresses use an advanced foam coating around the edges, however some of the cheaper mattresses simply put a steel rod on the sides. The foam coating is better. Viscoelastic mattresses usually do not have a separate fulcrum to the edge by the nature of the viscoelastic (it is designed to take the shape of your body even when you are seated).
Now that we know the basic factors that we should look at, let’s see how to actually buy a mattress.
3.4 In what posture do you sleep?
On your side, on your back, on your stomach, or a little of everything. Everyone has a way of sleeping. The biggest problem … most people are not looking for a mattress that fits their sleeping style. Each posture has specific needs and ideal levels of firmness.
Sideways
People who sleep sideways do not always hold the same position overnight. Many times they go from having both legs stretched out to folding one, and then the other. With this constant change, those sleeping sideways need a semi soft mattress, something between 3-6 on a scale of 10 (10 is the firmest). A soft mattress with plenty of support will relax the pressure points on your back and neck.
