How to choose a mattress? What is the best mattress? We know choosing a mattress can be daunting – especially since it’s probably been a while since your last trip to the mattress store. We’re here to help make sense of it all and provide you with everything you need to know so you can find the best mattress to buy for your lifestyle and budget. It’s time to buy a new mattress if: You wake up with aches and pains that dissipate throughout the day. Your arms or shoulders fall asleep throughout the night, or you wake up tossing and turning. Your mattress shows visible signs of wear and tear, such as sagging or the sides breaking down. You feel the coils when lying on your bed. You hear noises/creaks on your mattress when moving around. You roll toward the middle of the bed at night, or you easily roll off the edge of the bed. No matter what the temperature in your bedroom, you always seem to feel too hot in bed. Your mattress is more than eight years old – check the tag to determine the age of your mattress.
You’ve outgrown your current mattress size or are in need of a larger one. (Tip: If you’re an expecting parent, check out these tips to sleep for pregnant mothers!). Complete this checklist before your visit to the mattress store and bring it with you to help narrow your search. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – that’s what the sales representatives, known as sleep consultants at Mattress Firm, are there for! SIZE: To identify the correct mattress size for your space, consider the following: The mattress should be longer than the tallest person sleeping on it. The bed width should allow enough space to fold your arms behind your head without going beyond the mattress edge or touching your partner’s elbows (for two adults, we recommend either a queen or a king). Full size bed / Double mattress Not sure which size is right for you? Click here for a little more info on choosing the right mattress size. Do you need a box spring or foundation for your mattress?
☐ Yes ☐ No BUDGET: Determine a budget you’re comfortable with and let your salesperson know so he or she can direct you to the best mattress options in your price range. Not sure how much you should spend for a good quality mattress? As a general rule with mattresses, you get what you pay for – the higher the quality, the better the comfort, support and durability. However, it’s important to choose a model that suits your needs and your pocketbook. We recommend the “eight days of pay for eight years” model: Take one day’s pay and multiply it by eight. That’s how much you should spend on a mattress that will last eight years. If you don’t plan on keeping your mattress that long, or it’s going to be a guest mattress that will be used less often, you may consider spending less, but consider using this equation to find your ballpark price range. The least I will spend is $___________ The most I can spend is $__________ I [am / am not] willing to consider floor models and and other clearance options.
TEST-DRIVE: Once your salesperson has shown you some different mattress brands within your size/budget range, test out your mattress options by laying on each side (back, stomach, left side, right side) for about five minutes per side (20 minutes total). We know what you’re thinking, “I don’t want to lay on a bed in front of my fellow shoppers?” Don’t worry – we see it all the time, and it’s an important step in the shopping process. Some questions to ask yourself as you test drive each mattress include: Do I prefer a firm or soft mattress? Refer to this five levels of comfort guide if you’re not sure. Which mattress brand do I trust the most? Check out this list of our most trusted mattress brands if you need more information. What features can I live without? What features can I NOT live without? (For example: hybrid mattress only, must be memory foam, etc.) Take any relevant notes about what you liked/didn’t like about each one here: Is shipping and/or delivery included?
☐ Yes ☐ No, it costs $________ Will they dispose of my old mattress for me when they bring the new one? Is there a charge for that? ☐ No ☐ Yes, it costs $________ Is recycling my old mattress an option and can they recycle it for me? How long will it take to get my new mattress delivered to me? RETURN POLICY / WARRANTY: o What is the return policy? Is there a return fee, restocking fee or any penalty fees? ☐ No ☐ Yes, it will cost $________ What does the warranty cover? Will it be voided due to stains or tears caused by use? (Tip: To protect against regular wear and tear and extend the life of your mattress you may consider purchasing a quality mattress cover.) Make sure you understand what your warranty covers and take any relevant notes here: Once you have found the perfect mattress you are more than half way there! Here are some essential bedding accessories to help complete your sleep sanctuary. If you find you’re too hot at night, or your partner wakes you up with his or her tossing and turning, check out today’s high tech sleep products that have set out to solve these common issues:
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I was waking up grumpy, with backaches from the strain of staying level. I'd bought the bed a decade before, shortly after my divorce. Now, with a new man in my life, I decided I was ready for a new mattress. Around that time, I visited my parents and slept on their new pull-out couch. But instead of peaceful slumber, it felt as if I were being gassed by the mattress's smell. I opened a window but tossed all night, worried about the toxic fumes I might be inhaling. Mattresses, I soon learned, are rarely ecologically innocent. Most are made with synthetic fibers or foam, which don't biodegrade. Cotton or wool stuffing can be processed with pesticides and other chemicals—some of them potentially carcinogenic. Considering I spend one-third of my life lying in bed, realizing this was fairly disquieting. The good news is that choices once limited to size and firmness now include environmental options as well. If you prefer an innerspring mattress—steel coils surrounded by layers of fluffy padding—you can rest easy on beds made from organic cotton and wool, with steel coils that aren't coated in chemicals.
If, like me, you prefer a solid-foam mattress, you can opt for latex made from the milky sap of rubber trees. And though I worried that sleeping on something made from coconut husk fibers or natural rubber would feel like napping in Gilligan's hut, when I test-drove the beds, my back couldn't feel the difference. Here are three tips from my eco-mattress hunt. The smell that kept me awake at my parents' house is a cocktail of chemicals, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are associated with skin irritation and respiratory problems. Walter Bader, author of Sleep Safe in a Toxic World and cofounder of Organic Mattresses Inc., sent a conventional mattress to a lab that measured its emissions and found 61 VOCs. "Mattresses are like cigarettes were in the 1930s," Bader says. "Completely unregulated, and everyone thinks they're safe." Experts, though, remain divided about what exposure levels pose a danger. Berkeley-based toxicologist Janet Weiss, MD, who has studied these chemicals, says, "Like the new-car smell, mattress smells aren't hazardous."
Others argue that exposure should be limited as possible. "Although the amount people inhale is incredibly small, the exposure adds up," says epidemiologist Devra Lee Davis, PhD, of the Environmental Health Trust. Choosing organic materials is one of the best ways to cut the toxins you inhale while sleeping. Fumes are strongest in the first few weeks, so it also helps if you can let your new bed air out in a spare room or garage before using it. Ask for the Real Credentials There is no government certification for eco-friendly mattresses. "Manufacturers use the terms green and natural however they want, and there isn't much standardization," says Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the Environmental Working Group. While shopping, I found mattresses made with castor oil, aloe vera, green-tea infusions, and bamboo—and labeled every variation of green, eco-, organic, and natural. It takes some sleuthing to push past the green stickers and figure out what really goes into a mattress.
I tried out one "eco-friendly" memory-foam mattress in a store that was plastered with green leaf symbols. A salesperson offered me piping hot green tea, but when I pressed her on what was so green about their mattress, she explained that more than 10 percent of the oils in the petroleum-based memory foam had been replaced with plant-based oils. So the product wasn't exactly green, just 10 percent greener. "We're the hybrid cars of the mattress world," she said. "We're still burning gas, but it's better than a regular car." Yet to many shoppers, the company's beds appear just as pure as those made by rigorously green Organic Mattresses, Inc., a company Bader started because of his chemical sensitivities (the handcrafted creations are made from cruelty-free wool, certified organic cotton, and 100 percent natural rubber latex in a facility where no one is allowed to smoke, wear fragrances, or wear fabric softeners). When shopping, ignore words like eco- and natural. Instead, seek out companies that explain ingredients clearly and can point to where materials are sourced.
Even better, look for third-party certification" Oeko-Tex Standard 100 is the largest voluntary third-party certification for textiles free of harmful substances, and Global Organic Textile Standard certifies that a natural fiber was grown organically and processed sustainably. Find a Comfortable Compromise If I had a $3,000 budget, I'd be on a virtuous mattress made by Organic Mattresses in a heartbeat. But there's only so much I can spend on my back health and eco-consciousness. I decided I wanted a memory-foam mattress that replaced some of the usual synthetic latex with soy. And after careful research, I bought it from Magniflex, an Italian company, because its bona fides were so impressive: Its memory foam is 30 percent plant oils, one of the highest percentages in the industry; it uses water to expand the memory foam rather than relying only on solvents, like most companies; and it created a flame retardant derived from sea sand, saving me from more chemical additives. The company's textiles are Oeko-Tex certified, and it uses GOTS-certified cotton.