How Do I Pick the Right Mattress?
Picking the right mattress is like picking the right pair of shoes- size, style, brand, and support all play key roles in choosing the right pair of shoes as well as the right mattress. In one 24 hour period, you’ll spend a third of it in shoes and another third on a mattress. The big difference is one you slip out of to relax and the other you slip into!
Most people quickly realize when they’ve chosen the wrong shoes for the job. Wearing sandals to a funeral or dress shoes on a ten mile hike both are preposterous, but too many times people make similar disastrous mistakes in choosing their mattress!
The big question to ask yourself when picking a mattress is your priorities; what is the purpose of this mattress? This will not only help you decide on a mattress, it will make your mattress shopping experience more streamlined so you don’t spend every weekend for a month laying in random mattress stores trying to decide.
For example, if it’s for a guest bed that your big-boned son-in-law will be sleeping on every significant holiday and that your grandkids like to jump on, durability will probably be at the top of the list of priorities. In that case, you’ll look for something firmer and structurally sound. If comfort for your son-in-law is also a priority and your budget allows, you’ll want to invest in a latex mattress, proven to be top of the line in longevity and comfort.
Each type of bed has its advantages; memory foam is best at relieving pressure, innerspring is affordable and is the most popular type of bed, latex is like sleeping on a cloud and durable. To add to the growing list to choose from, you have latex/memory foam hybrids, memory foam/innerspring hybrids, and a plethora of new innovations that are continually being produced.
To quickly give you an idea of your priorities, here's a few questions. I've grouped them by comfort, longevity, and price below. rate yourself on this list of possible purposes for your mattress on a scale of 1-10:
- How often will this mattress be used?
- Does the person using this mattress have any issues (back problems, etc.) that would prevent a good night’s sleep?
- How important is a comfortable mattress to you personally?
- In comparing importance, how would you compare buying a car to buying a comfortable mattress? (1 = nowhere close, 10 = just as important)
- How long do you want this mattress to last? (1 = 1 year, 10 = 10 years)
- Do you have any pets or kids? (1 = 1 kid and a goldfish, 10 = 10 Labrador retrievers that share the bed)
- Have you had problems with wearing out mattresses quickly in the past? (Don’t be embarrassed, just answer honestly)
- How often will this mattress be used?
- I don’t care how uncomfortable it is as long as it fits in my budget. (1 = Not true! 10 = Money is life)
- I’m not willing to invest in my sleep.
- This mattress won’t be used often enough to invest in it.
- I will shop around forever until I find the mattress I like at a good cost.
Tally up your totals. Higher numbers mean that's a priority for you.
Hopefully completing this exercise brought you closer to knowing how to decide what kind of mattress is right for you. The next step is to research beds that fit those parameters. For example, if your first priority was price and second was longevity, in most cases you wouldn’t want to go with the more expensive latex or memory foam mattresses, and so you would decide innerspring. Maybe you’d talk to a friend who said that their innerspring mattress has lasted them 15 years, so you research them and find a reliable innerspring bed that is within your budget.
Despite what you might hear, there is no one size fits all for beds. (Or for shoes.) Each situation is going to have different needs, and determining those needs is a major part of the battle. Happy hunting!