Sleeping with the best mattress is vital for your well-being. You can even relieve aches and pains with the right mattress, waking up happier and healthier thanks to a good night’s sleep.
- Traditional innerspring mattresses use a steel coil support system with natural or man-made fillings and covers. The greater the number of coils, the more points of support and the better the bed can contour and support the sleeper, usually described as springy
- Foam mattresses, including polyurethane, memory, or gel foam, usually contour to the body, isolate motion and offer different comfort, feel and heat dissipation features.
- Latex Mattresses offer similar qualities to foam, but are usually described as bouncier and more breathable. All-natural latex is considered to be more environmentally friendly too. All natural designs should be designated as Talalay or Dunlop, which refers to their production methods
- Hybrid mattresses are a combination of foam or latex with coils and offer the best of both qualities with the right amount of firmness and support, and a slight bounce. They’re typically described as responsive and can sleep cooler than standard memory foam.
Hot sleepers tend to prefer traditional coil or hybrids while those with specific aches and pains appreciate the levels of support that zoned memory foam can provide. Light sleepers with restless partners will enjoy memory foam which is more efficient at combating motion transfer.
While comfort level is subjective, an industry-wide scale between 1 and 10 is used to determine firmness level, with a 1 being extremely soft and a 10 being extremely firm. We’ve found that most mattresses tend to fall between a 4 and an 8 on the scale.
As a general rule, stomach sleepers and those carrying more weight will find a better level of support with a mattress that errs on the side of the firm – around 7-7.5 on the scale.
Side and back sleepers need some support but of a slightly softer kind, so should opt for a medium or medium-firm 5-7 out of 10. Sleep Advisor (opens in new tab) estimates that 80 percent of adults prefer mattresses categorized as medium.
Lighter and some side sleepers will be best suited to something a little more cloud-like. However, there are very few mattresses out there with a 1-2 rating simply because they are so soft and don’t offer enough in the way of support.
That said if you have particular issues with muscle aches and joint pains, a mattress that is zoned with varying levels of firmness to help different areas of the body may be the better choice.
The good thing is that many brands recognize that sleep styles vary and so many offer 100-night plus trials with free returns to make sure you get the one for you and are often able to offer solutions to help you find your firmness sweet spot.
Meanwhile, depending on your sleep preferences, a soft mattress can offer the same amount of support as a firmer one. For instance, side sleepers will want a softer mattress that can cradle and cushion their side, whereas back sleepers will seek out a mattress that wouldn’t sag as they sleep to keep their bodies in a neutral position that minimizes any tension.
When you do need to clean your mattress, and from time to time you will, even with a protector you’ll want to spot clean any visible stains or odors and leave plenty of time for it to air dry. A good vacuuming with an upholstery attachment is also beneficial for pulling out inevitably embedded dust mites, dead skin, and other allergens.
For the longevity of your mattress, it may be useful to flip the mattress but follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.
