Sleep like a baby when you firm up your old mattress. Over time, a mattress can become uncomfortable from uneven wear. You can make your mattress more comfy by firming it up to create a more supportive, even sleeping surface. Whether you prefer an extra-hard bed or simply need to tweak a soft mattress, you're on your way to a more restful night's sleep when you firm up your mattress. Top It Add a special pad to make the mattress more comfy. A thicker mattress pad provides increased comfort and greater support over a thinner one. Choose from either a latex or memory foam pad to top your old mattress. Latex foam pads are available in a variety of thicknesses to add the firming support level you need with a soft feel. Likewise, memory foam mattress pads are available in assorted densities but conform to your body's shape to give you support where you need it. Board It Place a bed board between the mattress and box springs. A bed board typically consists of a solid piece of plywood or several wooden slats tucked inside a canvas cover.
You can purchase a bed board or make one yourself, but either way, the bed board should be as long and as wide as the mattress to provide complete underlying support. Box It Exchange existing box springs for a new replacement. Because a mattress and box springs work together as a unified shock absorber, if you don't currently have a set of box springs, adding this foundation gives your mattress immediate firmness. Box springs are designed with strong steel coils to deliver support; the best box springs compress and slightly give when you apply pressure to them. You can add years of comfort and usefulness to a mattress with quality box springs. Turn It Improve the firm feel of an old mattress without spending a dime. It's important to rotate and flip your mattress at least once every six months to avoid impressions and sags from sleeping in the same spot every night. If you have a pillow-top mattress with the pillow only on one side, you can't flip the mattress but you can rotate it 180 degrees to more evenly distribute your body weight over the top of the mattress.
: How to Use a Bed BoardThe Mattress Lady: Thick Mattress PadsHolder Mattress: Love and Marriage Go Together Like Mattresses and Box Springs Photo Credits John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images Suggest a CorrectionWhat to Do When Your Mattress Is Too Soft or Too Firm Why Mattress Firmness Matters Remember the story of Goldilocks and the beds? She tried three different beds, trying to find one that wasn’t too hard or too soft, but “just right.” Turns out, she was really on to something. Of course, “just right” bed firmness is a subjective thing about which opinions will vary wildly, and—as we saw with Goldilocks—most people would have to lie down on the bed before they could even say what “just right” means for them. So how do you find your “just right” when it comes to mattresses—and what can you do if you realize that the mattress you have doesn’t fit the bill? First, let’s take a moment to drive home why you should care about the firmness of your mattress.
The short answer can be distilled down to one word: alignment. Diving little deeper on that, your spine needs to be aligned while you sleep. Lying in an unaligned position for eight hours a day, every day, can contribute to serious back pain as well as negatively affect your sleep quality. Mattress firmness, in turn, plays a big role in determining how aligned you are. What’s Better, a Firm Mattress or a Soft Mattress? Firmer mattresses provide more resistance for your body, which can help support you but can also apply too much pressure to certain points of your body, leading to painful pressure points or unaligned positions caused by your body compensation for any local discomfort. A soft plush mattress, on the other hand, can cause your spine to collapse into the mattress, which leads to its own alignment issues. Ultimately, there’s no straightforward answer about how to choose a mattress or whether a firm mattress is better or worse than a soft one. Spend some time doing a little research and a thorough mattress comparison before making a decision.
Each person’s preference will vary based on a multitude of factors, including height, weight, age, and whether or not you have back pain or other health considerations. Your sleeping position will also play a role: Side sleepers tend to need softer mattresses that don’t put too much pressure on the shoulders or hips. Back sleepers are better off with a medium firm mattress that supports the low back without pushing too much on the spine. Stomach sleepers require a firmer surface that prevents the body from sinking into the mattress and collapsing the spine. To make it all even more complex, your firmness needs may very over time as injuries, pregnancy, or weight fluctuations change your sleep needs. How to Deal with a Too-Soft or Too-Firm Mattress If you come to the realization that your mattress is too firm or too soft, the best thing to do is to buy a new mattress. Of course, finances or other circumstances don’t always allow for that. In a pinch, here are some makeshift solutions for remedying your current mattress firmness:
If your mattress is too soft, try slipping some plywood boards between the mattress and the box spring or the bed frame. This will add some extra support. Try a mattress pad or mattress topper. Pillow-material mattress toppers can help soften a too-firm mattress, while thick pads or firm mattress toppers can add some more support.Some mattress materials, like ones made from 100% memory foam, can become softer in warmer rooms, so try adjusting your thermostat to see if it makes your mattress more to your liking. If your mattress is too soft and it’s two-sided, try flipping it. The unused side will often be firmer. A better solution for finding your best mattress is to choose an adjustable latex mattress. As we outlined above, everyone requires different levels of firmness—and what’s more, you need different levels of mattress firmness for different parts of your body, and all these needs are subject to change throughout your life. Because of these variables, choosing one level of firmness for your whole mattress just doesn’t make sense.