Choosing the Best Mattress Firmness
Do you wake up every morning and find yourself stretching to get the kinks and aches out of your lower back?
That’s one of the signs it’s time for a new mattress.
But buying a new mattress is something you need to spend some time on. We spend roughly a third of our lives sleeping, so it’s important to choose a mattress that lead to a healthy, comfortable sleep.
Here are a few tips to find the best mattress firmness, whether you’re shopping for your home or for your hotel.
Picking the “Just Right” Mattress
Whoever came up with the story of Goldilocks knew what they were talking about: the best mattresses are ones that are neither too hard nor too soft.
Speaking to WebMD, Dr. Arya Nick Shamie said a good mattress should support your body in a neutral position, one where your heels, shoulders, buttock and head are given proper support, and where your spine has a good curvature. Sealy Posturepedics & Stearns & Foster Innerspring Mattresses are built w. center core support (additional support where you need it most – the center third of the body!
“If the mattress is too firm, it will push on those main pressure points and take you out of alignment,” Shamie said “If it’s too soft, those pressure points won’t be properly supported, so your whole body flops back.”
When you go mattress shopping, experts suggest testing the mattress in the store. Lay down in in the position you normally use to sleep, and give the mattress 10-15 minutes. Sleep expert Michael Breus told WebMD he recommends shoppers bring their own pillows to better replicate the way they sleep when they’re at home.
Mattress Pros and Cons
There are a number of different types of mattresses on the market. Here are a few of them, along with their pros and cons.
Innerspring – These are among the most common type of mattress, offering support through a series of coils underneath a pillow, latex or foam padding. Innerspring mattresses range in firmness and price to fit everyone’s comfort and financial need. The downside is that cheaper mattresses aren’t likely to offer as much support.
Memory Foam – Memory foam gets its name from what it does: conforming to – or in other words, remembering – the shape of your body. Memory foam reduces pressure points and relieves pain, and also absorbs movement, meaning you’re not likely to disturb or be disturbed by your partner’s movement. The downside is that the foam absorbs heat, and thus can feel very warm during the night. Tempurpedic has “SmartClimate” cooling fibers and cool to touch materials.
Latex – Latex mattresses are fashioned from natural or synthetic rubber, and are known for giving firm, bouncy support. They provide a similar level of comfort to memory foam, but may not be the right choice for people who don’t like the feel of a firm mattress.
Air Mattresses –This doesn’t refer to the inflatable things your nieces and nephews sleep on when they come for Thanksgiving. These are mattresses that use air-filled chambers instead of coils. They can be adjusted so that they don’t always put pressure on the same parts of the body, and work well for couples who have very different preferences for mattress firmness. The downside is that if you fail to make the mattress firm enough, you could wake up in pain.
Have I Chosen the Proper Mattress?
Once you’ve gotten your new mattress home, you should start to feel better, chiropractor Dr. Eugene Su tells the website Lifehacker. He recommends new mattress owners ask themselves a series of questions:
Do I have more energy when I wake up, or less?
After I’ve been up for a while, do I feel any unusual soreness or pain, particularly in my back or sides?
When you get up, what is your mood like? Are you ready to tackle the day, or are you grumpy?
Do you find yourself tossing and turning, or waking up during the night to change positions?
Su says these are warning signs for when you need to replace a mattress, but if this sounds familiar after you’ve bought a new mattress, you madey need to trade it in for something new.
Of course, mattress firmness can only get you so far. “There’s no mattress that’s going to save your body when you get only five hours of sleep,” Shamie said.
Choose a mattress designed for easy housekeeping, and your staff will thank you!
If or when you are ready to purchase a new Mattress for your Inn, please contact our professional staff at InnStyle to assist you in choosing the right mattress for your property. You can view our mattresses, mattress toppers and pillows on www.innstyle.com and call us at 1-800-877.4667. We look forward to assisting you in your purchase.
By Susan Sternthal