Top 12 Tips For Buying A New Mattress
With so many mattress options to choose from, buying a new one can be overwhelming. This is especially true if you have back or neck painthe right or wrong mattress can make the difference between spending the day feeling good or in pain.
While choosing a mattress is ultimately a matter of personal preference, here are some tips to keep in mind:
How To Test For Comfort In A Mattress:
The second most important criteria for selecting the right mattress are comfort . If a mattress is too hard, it can cause pressure to your body. This cuts off circulation and pinches nerves , and will cause you to change positions frequently.
If youre frequently changing positions, your sleep is fragmented and you dont get into the deeper stages of sleep . This means youll wake up tired, even if you thought you got 8 hours of sleep. When youre trying out the mattress, you should be able to lie in one position without moving around for at least a few minutes. If you can do that, youve found a good mattress.
Those are the two main criteria. If you find a mattress that keeps you in proper alignment which doesnt cause pressure to your body, youve found a great mattress for you. To help fine-tune it from there, there are a few other things to consider.
Buy The Best You Can Afford
Choose what you can afford. If this is your only bed, invest in one of the higher quality models. Youd rather be comfortable than have the metal bar poke you in the back. On the other hand, if this is for a guest room or its for the short term, you may want to keep it more affordable .
We offer free US shipping on all of our sofa mattress models. Although a few offer free shipping, others average around $49-$79 dollars.
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When Is The Best Month To Buy A Mattress
Its smart to keep your eye out for mattress sales when youre in the market. While you can find discounts year-round, early spring , late winter and holiday weekends are often the best times to find markdowns.
Insider tip: Mattresses are one of the most heavily discounted items during sales events like Presidents Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day. In addition to saving some cash, you can often score freebies like pillows and bedding.
Advantages Of Shopping Online
Similarly, shopping for online mattress brands has several notable advantages, such as:
- You can shop from the convenience of your own home
- You can research and read up about dozens of brands and beds before you make a decision
- Typically these bed in a box mattresses are very affordable and have unbelievably favorable return policies
- Shipping is almost always freeeven in the case of returns
Having said that, when you shop online, you lose the ability to test a bed before you buy. And if you purchase a bed that you ultimately dont love, you then have to worry about returning it . Weve talked to consumers that had to go through three or four beds before they settle on the right one. That takes time and can be frustrating. For the record, thats why we exist. We want to help you get the right bed, the first time. You should definitely check out our Mattress Finder Quiz.
The other notable downside to buying a mattress from one of these online brands is that the onus is usually on you to remove the bed from its box and set it up. For most people, this is fairly convenient actually, but if you have back issues or limited mobility, this might not be the best idea. With an in-store purchase, the delivery folks usually set up the bed for you. There are a few online beds, such as the New Purple Mattresses, that come with white glove delivery, which means the delivery company will set up the bed for you .
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Learn About Different Mattress Materials
Before you buy, familiarize yourself with the most common mattress types and how they are constructed.
- Innerspring mattresses use coils, which often provide a traditional bounce feel and strong support.
- Latex mattresses typically offer more bounce and responsiveness than innerspring mattresses, and they tend to sleep cooler.
- Memory foam mattresses are designed to contour to the body, which may lead to pressure relief. Some users of memory foam report that the material sleeps warm.
- Hybrid mattresses combine memory foam or latex layers atop an innerspring mattress, often with the goal of providing a mix of softness and support.
- Air mattresses use an air pump to inflate the mattress to the desired firmness level. Typically, each side of the bed uses a separate chamber of air to accommodate two sleepers with differing preferences.
Mattresses are also rated based on firmness. In general, a mattress that is too old or too soft may not support the spine well enough.
Why Trust The Spruce
This article was edited and researched by Cristina Sanza, a lifestyle writer specializing in home products and organization hacks. She has contributed to The Spruce since 2020. To research our retail selections, she reads customer reviews, third-party articles, and brand websites to help you choose a new mattress you’ll love sleeping on night after night.
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Mattress Shopping Tip #: Check Out Amazon
While most brands dont extend their discounts or coupons to Amazon, if the prices are the same, sometimes the logistics are better with . For example, come with Prime 3-5 day shipping, while through the brand website it might take up to 10 days. Therefore, if youre in a rush check in-store or look on Amazon.
How To Buy A Mattress
wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 39 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 94% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 221,586 times.Learn more…
Buying a mattress is one of the most major purchases you can make for your home. You will likely spend more time on your mattress than any other piece of furniture that you own. For this reason, take a few steps to make sure that you buy the best mattress for your lifestyle.
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How To Buy A Bed
This article was co-authored by Katherine Tlapa. Katherine Tlapa is an interior designer, currently working as a Design Specialist for Modsy, a design service based in San Francisco. She also runs her own DIY Home Design blog, My Eclectic Grace. She received her BFA in Interior Architecture from Ohio University in 2016.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 42,056 times.
Sleep is one of our most important functions. Going without sleep due to a creaky, uncomfortable bed can affect your feelings, health, and thoughts. Therefore, choosing the right type of bed is a significant decision. The size of your budget, room, and body will all affect your eventual bed frame and mattress choice. With research, testing, and deliberation you can find the most comfortable bed for your home.
Be Aware That Firm Mattresses Arent Always Best
Think twice before buying a hard or firm mattress. Some research has shown that the best mattress for low back pain is a medium firm mattress rather than a firm mattress.1 There is a difference between firm support and firm feel. You want firm support with a comfortable feel. Comfort will be determined by your personal preference.
See Selecting the Best Mattress
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Don’t Buy A Sofa Sleeper Mattress Online Until You Read This
There is a lot of cheap low-quality hide a bed mattresses on online market places like Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, and Overstock that are made in China. Most of them are made by the same manufacturer.
Heres why thats concerning:
- No consistency. Chinese mattress manufacturers buy components from the lowest bidder. As a result, there is no consistency in how hard/soft the foam is or density of the foams.
- Poor quality materials. Weve torn open many of these pull-out couch mattresses and weve found things like:
- Used carpet padding
- Cardboard in the comfort layer
- Staples poking out of the foam keeping the fire barrier in place.
- Foam treated with toxic chemicals in order to pass US FR laws
- Foam that is high VOC that off gasses, etc.
The Best Firm And Springy Mattresses
The tester: Steven John, Strategist contributor
How I sleep: Chest down, with one arm under a pillow thats under my head and one leg bent 90 degrees at the knee .
What to know: What sets the Bear Hybrid Mattress apart from Bears OG mattress is alayer of dozens of individually wrapped coils or springs in addition to its four layers of foam. These coils, which comprise the Bear Hybrids thickest layer, compress to accommodate thicker parts of your body, like your shoulders and hips, and allow for ideal spinal alignment and reduction of pressure points. The coils also allow for superior heat transfer away from your body because they create pockets of empty space. Because the coil layer allows the Bear Hybrid to effectively map to any body, it is a great mattress for people who prefer different levels of firmness to share. Like the Bear Original Mattress, the hybrid has a top layer made with Celliant fibers woven into the quilting . Many studies support the stuff, but Im still on the fence.
The tl dr: If you want to fall asleep fast, this mattress is worth the price. Its multiple foam layers provide custom comfort, while the coils offer support contoured to various body types and create space for excess body heat to flow into. The jury may still be out on whether the Celliant topper actually helps restore muscle and joint health, but its definitely soft and inviting.
The tester: Louis
The tester: Anthony Rotunno, Strategist senior editor
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Is It Time To Replace Your Mattress
Chances are good that if youre thinking you need to replace your mattress, you are probably right. A substantial portion of the population is sleeping on mattresses that are either out of date or ill-suited to their body. If youre still unsure, here is a list of questions you may want to consider.
Read More: Learn When To Replace Your Mattress
Dont Go Broke Buying One
No matter who you are, mattress buying is an investment, but theres no reason to break your finances and gouge your savings to buy a new bed. There are fantastic sleep solutions out there that should match what you need, regardless of your budget, so sit down ahead of time and decide what money you are willing to spend before you begin looking.
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Pillow Top: Yes Or No
Pillow-top mattresses are very popular these days, but the fluffy comfort adds quite a bit to the mattresss cost and isnt always necessary. Keep in mind that a pillow top is likely to go flat long before your mattress gives out, especially if you are heavy. Conversely, if you are very light, your weight might not be enough to fully engage the support of the mattress through the pillow top, leaving you achy in the morning. Instead, consider buying a standard mattress and adding a thick mattress topper for that luxurious feeling.
What Features Should I Consider In A Mattress When Im Shopping Online
When you shop for a mattress at a retail store, you probably lay on a few before deciding which felt the best and fell within your price range. Now that you can research mattresses online to find the best one for you, there are a host of features you should think about beyond firmness levels.
Some mattress components that should influence your purchasing decision are materials used, size, the best mattress for certain sleeping positions, whether the mattress sleeps cool, if it has good support for back pain or hip pain, whether it can accommodate heavier people, motion transfer, and how easy it is to get delivered.
Figure out whether you want memory foam, innersprings, latex, or a hybrid . Most of the bed-in-a-box companies are made from foam so the mattress can compress when its shipped while feeling supportive under your body.
While many companies have specialty foams as the main material, Purple in particular is known for its proprietary Hyper-Elastic Polymer foam that features a flexible purple grid so it sleeps cool.
Some say that latex has more bounce so latex mattresses can help prevent aches and pains or relieve them. An innerspring mattress has that spring-like feel youre probably used to and may feel firmer than a memory foam mattress. An innerspring mattress may also not feel as hot to sleep on.
Hot sleepers may like mattresses known for high-tech materials that help users sleep cool, like Ghostbed or Purple.
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What Should I Know About Mattress
You might start off liking the mattress you purchased it could feel firm in all the right places, offer good edge support and seem durable. But if the mattress materials seem to be degrading in quality or craftsmanship, or the areas that once were supportive seem to be sinking, youll want to know that the online mattress company offers a long warranty.
Most companies offer a 10-year limited warranty, Saatva has a 15-year limited warranty and Avocado Green has a 25-year warranty. Layla offers a lifetime warranty that says they will repair or replace defective parts, but the warranty doesnt apply to the customers comfort preferences. Nectar has a Forever Warranty that will cover impressions more than 1.5 inches.
Read the bed-in-a-box companys warranties on their website before buying because limited means different things for different brands.
The Best Affordable Mattresses
The tester: Karen
What to know: First of all, Zinus is crazy affordable a six-inch-thick, two-layer foam queen is under $200. The version I tried, a 12-inch model with an extra layer of high-density foam, features a top layer of memory foam infused with gel, which theoretically disperses body heat better than normal memory foam. The cover, made from breathable fabric, is designed to keep you cool with its loose, woven knit that allows air to flow through. The cooling gel foam mattress is ranked right in the middle of the firmness scale by Tuck at a 5 out of 10, but the reviews are mixed on whether it actually makes you feel cooler. Zinus mattresses have a pretty simple build. Theyre made of foam of varying density levels, with none of the proprietary technology you see from companies with higher price tags.
The fine print: Zinus offers a 10-year limited warranty with all of its mattresses, including the Cooling Gel style. If ordered from the company itself, you also get free shipping and a 100-night trial during which you can return a mattress and receive a refund should you not like it.
The tl dr: This is one of the best values for a mattress, full stop.
The tester: Kelsey Darragh, Strategist contributor
How I sleep: With a partner, who is six-foot-four.
The fine print: Each Green Tea mattress comes with Zinuss 10-year limited warranty.
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Why Choosing The Right Mattress Is So Important
We all know how important sleep is. Most of us have experienced a poor night of sleep now and then, and the effects it can have on your day are huge. Plus, if you average 8 hours of sleep per night, that adds up to about one-third of your life that you spend sleeping. Pretty crazy, right?
So think about it this way: lets say youre planning a cross-country road trip. Sure, you could probably make do with an old beater car. But to really make the trip comfortable and stress-free, a reliable car that you love is a much better choice. The same goes for your mattress. Why settle for anything less?
The tricky part, of course, is finding that perfect mattress. Theres no one miracle or best mattress out there. The right mattress will be different for everyone, based on factors like your sleeping style, weight and more.
While reading through the following sections can help, a sleep trial will be the most informative . Take a look at the box below for the 7 questions to ask yourself as you begin shopping.
How To Shop For A Mattress Online: Step By Step
Shopping for a mattress online has several clear advantages over purchasing a mattress at a traditional brick-and-mortar store. While a broad selection is a huge plus, it can also make choosing the best option a bit daunting. Well cover the entire process step-by-step so that you can reap all of the benefits of shopping for a mattress online.
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