DK - House Works, 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited A good night's sleep starts with a good bed. How does yours stack up? Since we spend one-third of our lives in them, beds and mattresses deserve proper care. They'll repay us with a clean, healthy place to sleep. The Pea Princess' Guide to Mattress CareWhile the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" was meant to show the delicacy of the true princess, in reality, it showed up her future mother-in-law's housekeeping habits. Keep your castle's bedding in top shape with these tips for mattress care:Just as our bodies need the support of a good mattress, so mattresses need a proper place to rest. Purchase mattress and box springs as a set to make sure that the two pieces will work together harmoniously. Check the bed frame; larger mattress sizes — queen- or king-sized beds — require center support or full-width slats to span the wider width. Take a seasonal spin. Unless the manufacturer advises otherwise, rotate mattresses from heel to toe when the seasons change.
To rotate, revolve the end of the mattress nearest the headboard toward the foot of the bed, then nudge the mattress back into place on the box springs. Rotating mattresses helps prevent the formation of sleeping "wallows," caused by the same body in the same spot every night.Some mattresses should also be flipped when the seasons change. While pillow-top mattresses should not be flipped, other mattresses wear more evenly when the bottom surface nearest the box spring is flipped over to the top of the bed during a seasonal rotation. Check with your manufacturer for specific recommendations for your model.Kids enjoy bouncing on the bed, but the poor mattresses loathe the practice. Discourage these child gymnasts. Jumping on beds can damage mattresses and box springs, and fracture bed frames.Sweet dreams are the goal, but accidents happen. Protect mattresses from messy mishaps with mattress pads. They'll absorb moisture and spills before they soak through to the mattress.Regular vacuuming will keep mattresses clean and fresh.
Remove all bedding from the mattress, then use the upholstery brush to vacuum the top surface and sides of the mattress. Vacuuming removes dust, skin flakes and the dust mites that feed upon body waste. Vacuum mattresses thoroughly when rotating them seasonally.If a stain does occur, use an upholstery shampoo as directed to remove it. An alternative cleaner, recommended by manufacturers for use on mattresses, is called "dry suds." Create them by placing about 1/4 cup of liquid dishwashing detergent in a small mixer bowl. Turn the mixer on, and add a few teaspoons of water, a teaspoon at a time. The bowl will quickly fill with foam. Scrape the top layer of foam into a small bowl, and take it to the mattress. Rub the stained area gently with the foam, using a sponge or a soft brush, being sure not to wet the padding beneath. Leave the mattress exposed until it is thoroughly dry before replacing the bedding. DK - House Works, 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited Launder bedding and pillows.
If you change bedding for the season, air out the spring blankets before putting them on bed. Store winter bedding after having it cleaned. Controlling Allergens in the BedroomCarpet, window treatments and mattresses collect dust and dander and provide a happy playground for dust mites. Found anywhere there are humans, humidity and higher temperatures, dust mites are a major cause of allergic symptoms in the home. More correctly, it's their feces and dead body parts that cause allergic reactions — and their food source is us! Dust mites feed on discarded skin flakes, making bedding and bedrooms prime dust-mite real estate. Over the years, they'll multiply inside mattresses to the point where it's estimated that 50 percent of the weight of a 10-year-old mattress is caused by dust mites and their leavings. If family members wake each morning with puffy eyes and sneezing noses, it's time to control allergens in the bedroom. Fight back against dust mites, dander, dust and pollen with these tips:
Use vinyl covers designed to form a barrier between mites and the mattress.Pillows, comforters and other items should be made from synthetic fibers. Encase pillows in vinyl covers for added protection. Clean well and often. Regular cleaning is the best defense against allergens and dust mites. Send Duff to other quarters. Bed down household pets in an area outside the bedroom if allergies are a problem. Pet dander is an allergen for many, and pets shed fur and skin cells, too, promoting dust mite populations. Banish Duff from the bedroom at night, and make it up to him with extra walkies in the morning — after a good night's sleep. Keep humidity levels low. Dust mites die back when there's insufficient moisture in the air. In humid climates, use a portable or whole-house dehumidifier to reduce in-house humidity levels to between 30 percent and 50 percent.Mites thrive in warm weather, so keep household temperatures lower in the bedroom.Fight back with spring cleaning.
Because mites grow best in warm, humid weather, take advantage of early spring to clean the house. Vacuuming and dusting will remove the mites who've wintered over before they can run riot in spring.Stuffed toys are a comfort for children of all ages, but harbor dust mites just as mattresses do. Replace the teddy bear with a plastic model for a healthier night's sleep. Wash bedding often, in hot water. Temperatures of 130 degrees F are required to kill mites; mites can survive cold water washing. Wash sheets and pillowcases weekly, and give pillows, comforters and blankets a trip to the washer every month to six weeks.They are lovely to look at, but plants bring pollen, insects, dust and microbes into the bedroom. For best rest, restrict them to other rooms.We receive free products to review and participate in affiliate programs, where we are compensated for items purchased through links from our site (at no cost to the buyer). See our disclosure page for our list of comped products and affiliate programs.
The Leesa is one of the bed-in-a-box companies that actually gets very good reviews online, so I was excited to give it a try. It’s got it’s own comfort layer of foam (Avena) which ended up being comfortable. Overall I recommend the mattress, but it’s not a perfect fit for everyone (see how Leesa compares HERE). I think it will be a good fit for a lot of people, and the return policy / sleep trial is so good that the risk is very low in buying this mattress. It has a really nice foam feel with good pressure relief and good bounce. It also doesn’t sleep hot, which is great. Click Here To Get $75 Off The Leesa Mattress Watch my Leesa video review You will love the Leesa if: You value comfort – comfort is definitely a very subjective measure of a mattress, but personally I found the Leesa very comfortable compared to most of the mattresses I have reviewed. You like design – Leesa comes out of a design shop, which is especially evident in the cover (trademarked, all from one piece of fabric, very soft to the touch)
You sleep in multiple positions – Leesa has a firmness and consistency that makes it comfortable in any sleeping position, even stomach sleeper. So if you sleep in multiple positions throughout the night, it is a good match. You hate sleeping hot – many people fear foam mattresses because they sleep hot, but I didn’t have any issue with it with the Leesa. They use Avena foam on the comfort layer deals with this concern well. You want great value – Leesa manufactures in the USA and ships the mattress straight to your door, cutting out a lot of middle men of the typical sales process. This lets them deliver a higher quality product at a more reasonable price. You may not like Leesa if: You are a spring person – Leesa has a strong company brand, so I get a lot of messages from people that love spring mattresses but are considering Leesa. If you’re open to a switch, then consider it, but if you strongly prefer an innerspring mattress, Leesa won’t change that.
You’re very overweight – Leesa has one model at this point, so if you’re very overweight, it’s possible the 10 inches of foam won’t offer you enough support. You like a plush feel – Some people confuse comfort and plush. Plush is a softness, either due to a soft comfort layer or pillow top, while comfort just describes the general feeling of the bed. Leesa is comfortable, but not plush. You want a “luxury” mattress – These days luxury in a mattress means features like diamond gel and pillow tops to excess. Leesa is a very good product, particularly at the price, but it doesn’t have any of those zinger obtuse luxury features that push up the price on other luxury mattresses. I tried the Leesa out for a week, and overall really enjoyed the experience. I sleep mostly on my stomach and side, occasionally on my back, and found it to be comfortable in all positions. If you’re only a stomach sleeper, you might want a slightly firmer mattress, but Leesa is one of the few mattresses I’ve tried that accommodates all of the sleeping positions well.
I do like the cover design, but I put a sheet on it about 3 minutes after opening it, so it’s not a make-or-break feature in my mind. Unlike a standard memory foam mattress, the Leesa has a bit of spring to it, so I felt like I could turn over and move around in the bed pretty easily. Though I found the Leesa particularly comfortable, I slept through the night 5 of 7 nights, which is about average for me. The mattress didn’t sleep hot for me, but it is fall weather in New York, so it wasn’t such a hard test to pass at this point. However other online reviews indicate that sleeping hot isn’t an issue for the Leesa. The mattress was slightly firmer than I expected, however still very comfortable. I would put it at a 7 out of 10 on the firmness spectrum, still well within normal for a mattress. There is only one model sold, which targets the average sleeper. Thus if you like especially firm or especially soft, you won’t find it with Leesa. Watch the video below to see its responsiveness:
You see a slight imprint of my hand, however it comes back much quicker than say a Tempur-pedic. The company is transparent about what materials they use in their mattress (if you’re into the foam densities and other technical construction aspects), so I recommend starting there to really understand the construction. However for a quick overview: Comfort layer – 2 inches Avena Foam: Avena is a polyurethane foam, but performs more like latex (more spring, and more cool). It is said to be more durable than latex as well. Support layer – 2 inches memory foam: This layer is the primary support layer, so memory foam is naturally a good option. Foundation layer – 6 inches high density support foam: The base layer of the mattress, providing a supportive foundation for the mattress. The most unique aspect of the construction is the Avena foam, which is not used in any other of the most popular mattresses available. I provide a full breakdown of Avena foam vs latex foam in another article, however for the foam lamen, I would look at the videos that show the responsiveness and how it supports me when laying in different sleeping positions.