Are you losing sleep over choosing a new mattress? Here’s our quick guide to purchasing a new mattress for your bedroom, and getting one step closer to making your bedroom a haven of relaxation.
How old is your mattress?
First thing’s first, how old your mattress is plays a big role when choosing a new one. As a general rule of thumb, if your mattress is over eight years old then you should probably buy a new one. However, this doesn’t apply to all mattresses and sometimes depends on how you sleep. For example, if you are a restless sleeper and move around a lot, or if you just aren’t comfortable in bed, then it’s probably time to get yourself a new mattress!
What firmness do you need?
If you are trying to create the perfect sleeping quarters, then choosing a mattress with the perfect firmness for you is important. This is usually down to personal taste more than anything, so make sure you try before you buy, and test several out by lying down on them in your sleeping position in the store! It’s worth remembering that firmness can often be mistaken for support – support ensure your spine is aligned without touching any pressure points, but firmness goes hand-in-hand with comfort. For those who suffer from back pain, click here for a full comparison of mattresses which will be able to help you.
What position do you sleep in?
How you sleep will play a big factor in what sort of mattress you’ll need. Do you sleep on your side? Your stomach? Back? Or a bit of each? Everyone sleeps in their own way, but more often than not, people don’t shop for how they sleep, but how comfortable a mattress is when they sit on it!
If you sleep on your side, it’s likely that you’ll do a lot of moving throughout the night, tossing and turning from side to side, bending and straightening one leg, and then both. For someone who sleeps like this, you will need a medium to soft mattress in the range of 3-6 out of 10, with 10 being the firmest.
If you are a back sleeper, firmness and support are crucial. If your mattress is too soft, it will create pressure points on your back and will likely cause pain. Additionally, a mattress which is too soft will cause spinal alignment to be off, and could cause long-term back problems! A back sleeping is looking for a mattress within the range of 4-7.
Stomach sleepers’ number one priority is is support. The torso will put the most pressure on the mattress, and therefore it needs to be able to support the whole body. If the mattress is too soft and the sleeper’s stomach sinks in the middle, then this will cause the spine to curve. Stomach sleepers will usually have to sleep completely flat, and even a pillow that is slightly too high can put a spine completely out of whack! A stomach sleeper will require a mattress within the range of 5-7.
