Mattresses Summary

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Sleep Well: Making the Most of Your Mattress

When looking for a suitable mattress, different ranges of pricing, comfort, and functionality should always be taken into account. Find out what type best suits you and learn about the secrets to effective mattress buying.

Most of us know that the best way to buy a mattress is to lay on it first. But what many people don’t know is the fact that feel is only one part of the overall package you should be looking for when it comes to mattress selection.
There are many different types of mattresses out there, and each provide a different form of support for your back, hips, and shoulders. There are three main mattress foundations: spring mattresses, air mattresses, and foam mattresses. These three are composed of different materials, pressure points, longevity, and maintenance standards, which give each buyer varied sleeping experiences.
Spring mattresses are the traditional and most common form of sleeping support, and provide the body with all-over support. Made up of steel coil springs, also known as ‘innersprings’, the mattress is able to vary in firmness depending on the thickness of the coils. The connection of these coils keeps the shape of the mattress and helps preserve its long-term integrity. This system establishes a guarantee of support for the body’s pressure points, but can also cause a loss of blood flow in those areas and make you toss and turn more frequently at night. Taking these into consideration, a potential buyer of this mattress would be someone who sleeps better on a firmer surface and doesn’t mind small discomforts such as sleeping limbs. These mattresses can go for very cheap, so I’d recommend this purchase for college-age students and young adults who need to live on a budget and who are youthful enough to bounce back from sleeping discomforts. On the plus side, the warranties for the spring mattresses are usually very good and the bed will generally last for 5 years.
Air mattresses are another type, mainly used for camping or in luxury beds. They cost around the same as most innerspring mattresses, and are the second favorite choice when buying a bedroom mattress. One favorable feature of these mattresses is that the air pockets are adjustable, and can be filled or released for different firmnesses. There are no springs to pinch and poke at the body, so beds like these are often recommended for medical use by chiropractors to relieve tension and the occurrence of bed sores. I’d recommend air mattresses for those who are very sensitive to the pressure points in their bed and who might have back or joint problems due to sleeping.
Foam mattresses are a newer development in bed-making technologies, and the most popular brand is Memory Foam Mattresses, praised for its use by NASA in aircraft safety features. Made of shape-conforming materials, such as latex and visoelastic foam, these mattresses give the support of air and spring mattresses, but also “remember” the position of your body as you sleep, making it that much easier to get comfortable at night. Pricing is usually steeper than the other two mattress types, simply because cost of materials is higher, but it’s worth it for those who can’t stand pressure points on their joints and who may have a harder time entering the REM portion of sleep and staying in it throughout the night. Memory foam is a higher-quality product as well, and the warranties usually cover a longer span of time than those of other mattress products. I’d suggest this for people who don’t mind spending a bit more for maximum sleeping comfort.
When considering the purchase of a mattress, the factors of function, comfort, and affordability should always be included. Testing out a mattress in the store is helpful and certainly an adequate way to pick a bed, but more research should be conducted when looking into choosing the best mattress possible for your unique sleeping patterns.