How To Determine What Kind Of Mattress You Need

Preferences And Other Considerations

There are other important factors to consider when shopping for a new bed. If you tend to overheat at night, you will want a mattress that can help keep you cool. Latex runs cooler than foam, which is known for retaining heat. Hybrids and innersprings also sleep cooler, since air circulates between the coils. If you really enjoy the feel of foam but find it runs too hot, look for a foam bed that incorporates cooling components such as cooling gel, an aerated composition, or phase change material. Covers made of cotton or cooling fabrics can help regulate temperature, and wool layers wick moisture from your body.

If you with a partner, you may want to consider a mattress with strong motion isolation. This can help reduce sleep disturbances when sleep partners shift in the middle of the night. Many foam beds are highly effective at minimizing motion transfer, while latex beds have a bouncy feel that is less conducive to motion isolation.

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to finding an ideal mattress. Eco-conscious shoppers may prefer beds made with organic materials. People who sleep close to the edge of the bed might want a mattress with good edge support. Shoppers who are new to purchasing mattresses online may appreciate a bed with a long sleep trial. Figuring out your individual needs will go a long way toward finding the perfect mattress, so take our mattress quiz to get started on your search.

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What Is The Best Month To Purchase A Mattress

Many mattress retailers offer deep discounts around Presidents Day, which is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February. You can usually find some good mattress deals around Memorial Day and Labor Day, and sometimes around the Fourth of July. Generally speaking, you may see a few decent price drops during holiday shopping events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, but they likely wont be the best deals of the year. We track deals on all of our mattress recommendations year-round.

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Memory foam enthusiasts often love the comfort and contouring the material provides yet crave the bounce and cooling that coils or latex brings. Recent updates in mattress technology have yielded hybrid models, offering consumers a solution, combining the best of both worlds. This clever combination lets you drift off atop the comfort of memory foam without overheating or bottoming out.

The big question most people ask is: Are hybrid mattresses worth the extra cost?

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Firm Soft Medium Extra

Firmness proves another major point of confusion for shoppers. This is largely due to difficulty comparing firmnesses between brands and types, a lack of standard categorization, and the arbitrary nature of comfort.

Mattress makers will generally label beds somewhere on a scale of very plush to very firm, but how the bed actually feels can vary from brand to brand and even within lines, and one persons medium might be anothers firm. To further complicate things, most beds will often soften a bit in the first year or two.

The least arbitrary measures include the IFD/ILD scale for foams with higher numbers being firmer and coil gauge for spring beds with lower numbers feeling firmer. But, the thickness of layers and padding materials also play a role. Reviews can also help you get an idea of how accurate firmness descriptions are.

If you are unsure about mattress firmness, two helpful things to consider include your sleep position and personal comfort factors.

As described in detail in one of our previous articles, here are general guidelines for mattress firmness based on sleep position preference:

• The best mattress for side sleepers should have enough give to allow hips and shoulders to sink while still supporting the waist and lumbar region. Your spine should be straight and parallel to the floor when lying down. Plush to medium is likely the ideal firmness range for you.

Other things that may affect firmness preference include age, weight and medical conditions.

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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What Position Do You Normally Sleep In At Night

Before mattress shopping, take special note as to what position you sleep in most often. Do a little bit of research on yourself when choosing a mattress. Make sure to note what position you naturally go to when you fall asleep and what position you find yourself waking up in. Waking up in a different position means that is probably the position you spend most of your sleeping hours in therefore, it is also the position youre in the bulk of the night. This will determine what firmness you will need in a mattress.

If you are a side sleeper, you should look into purchasing a plush or medium mattress. You will need the extra comfort layers to provide pressure relief for your hips and shoulders. Generally, people with a curvier figure need the added cushion found in plush mattresses.

If you are a back sleeper, a medium-firm mattress will be a good fit. Medium-firm mattresses are designed to provide the perfect balance between contouring comfort and pushback support.

If you are a stomach sleeper, a firm mattress is your best bet. A firm mattress provides you with the solid surface youll need to reduce back pain caused from spinal compression often associated with this sleep position.

How Firm Should Your Mattress Be

While the firmness level thats comfortable for you will obviously vary, the mattress industry has developed a 1-10 firmness scale to make the decision a bit clearer:

• 1 : Cloud-like maximum softness
• 2-3 : Soft and plush with noticeable sink
• 4-6 : Most common some plush feeling but limited sink
• 7-9 : Much harder limited softness and sink
• 10 : Like a rock no softness or sink

Side sleepers generally should opt for mattresses in the two-to-five range the extra softness provides support and relief at the shoulder and hip pressure points while keeping the spine aligned. Back and stomach sleepers will likely prefer the four-to-seven range, so they get full firmness throughout the body. Mattress with a firmness ratings of one or ten are very rare.

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Consider Your Sleeping Position

Your sleeping position plays the biggest role in the firmness level youll need at night. It impacts what parts of your body need more cushioning and what parts need less cushioning.

Based on your sleeping position, consider sleeping on a mattress with one of the following firmness levels:

• The best beds for combination sleepers are typically use medium mattresses

Always Think About Your Weight Too

Believe it or not, many things will depend on your weight and even on your body type. So it would help if you combined your sleeping position with your weight when choosing the firmness of the mattress.

If you dont weigh more than 150 pounds, you can buy a mattress on a medium-firm side, ranging from 5 to 6. And if you weigh over 150 pounds to 200, you can choose the standard firmness that goes around 5-7.

If you have around 200 pounds or more, you should want to choose the firmer and thicker option because it will significantly support you. But dont worry, because these mattresses are soft too.

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Browse Different Types Of Frames

After determining what size, height, and style of bed frame you need, youll now want to look at the different types available. If this seems like another category with too many options, dont fret: all the work youve done so far will help narrow it down.

The best way to begin is by seeing which bed frames match your criteria of size and style. At Casper, we offer bed frames to suit every need, aesthetic, and lifestyle, including:

Whether youre setting out on your own for the first time or looking for a well-earned upgrade, our frames will help ensure your bed looks as good as it feels.

What Is A Hybrid Mattress

The first thing we want to do is to shed a little light on the matter. Before you go ahead and choose a hybrid mattress, youd want to be aware of its benefits and the considerations youd have to account for.

Its a type of bed which is made of using at least two different types of unique materials, and are typically made out of a layer of coils, another word for innersprings.

This mix of materials allows the user to capitalize on the advantages of the components which are used. There are a few popular examples that have been very sought after in recent years the combination of memory foam and latex and the combination of memory foam, latex, and innerspring/coils altogether. Both of these types have a compound of benefits.

Lets take the first example. If you bought a bed thats foam-based and latex-based, youd be able to experience the contouring capabilities of the foam and the responsiveness and breathability of latex. This allows the user to get a great sleeping sensation altogether, which is the primary purpose of this type of bed.

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How Do I Choose A Mattress By Material

When it comes to choosing a material or mattress type, the important considerations are cost and feel. Obviously, some materials cost more than othersfor example, natural latex foam tends to cost more to produce than memory foam, while memory foam tends to cost more than basic poly-foam does.

Feel is important to think about when it comes to foam and spring mattresses. Foam mattresses tend to hug the body more, while the buoyant coils of a spring mattress keep a person on top of the bed. Which feel is more suitable is largely a matter of personal preference.

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.

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Consider Your Current Bedroom Aesthetic

Once youve narrowed down the criteria for your bed frame search, youll want to consider what bed frame style suits your current sleeping space. If your aesthetic is cozy and traditional, for example, you might want a more traditional bed frame with:

• Wood accents Like the Casper Repose
• A soft, upholstered headboard Like the Casper Haven

If you like a bed frame style that is more sleek and modern, you might prefer the smooth lines of a metal frame or the minimalistic look of a platform bed frame.

In either case, jotting down a general idea of what you hope to find will help you keep your eyes on the prize: finding the right bed frame that suits all of your needs, including your aesthetic.

The Mattress Is Sagging

Having been used long enough, a mattress is bound to lose its structural integrity and sag from points of pressure. Often, these sagging points are in the middle of the mattress that leads to lower back pains in users. Deep indentations and sagging often disrupt sleep quality and thus, overall health.

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What Is Mattress Firmness

Obviously, the first thing youd like to account for is the essence of the characteristic. Believe it or not, there is a lot of misconception out there amongst potential mattress buyers. They tend to believe that mattress firmness ratings and support are the same things.

While the former directly correlates with the latter and they are mutually dependent, theres a difference. The firmness of the bed is its hardness, put in a very simple way. Is it soft or is it hard? Thats the type of question that you need to ask yourself. It’s subjective and different sleepers will have a different feel.

However, this has become a critical characteristic, and its an important metric which is accounted for by every buyer. After all, it determines the overall level of comfort as well as the support that the entire thing is going to offer. Have in mind that mattress size shouldn’t impact your overall firmness feel.

Determine Whether Youll Need A Box Spring

As you traverse the world of bed frames and unravel the mysteries of how to buy a bed, you may be wondering do you need a box spring. If you already have one at home and plan to use it with your existing mattress, youll want to make sure to find a bed frame that can accommodate both.

If you dont already own a box spring, though, you may be happy to learn that, when paired with a contemporary mattress, many modern bed frames simply dont need them.

Instead, you can look for wooden bed frames with a mattress foundation or platform that still provides plenty of support, like the Casper Mattress Foundation.

The solid wood engineering of the Casper Mattress Foundation ensures both support and durability, while providing the height of a traditional box spring.

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How To Select The Right Mattress For You Summary

Hopefully, you have finished reading the above but even if you havent these five steps will ease your task of choosing a mattress for you or your family.

Should You Sleep On A Soft Mattress

Featuring plush, enveloping surfaces, soft mattresses accommodate a variety of sleepers. However, a soft bed isnt the perfect match for every sleep position or build.

Mattresses on the softer end of the firmness scale typically provide above-average pressure relief, which is a benefit to side sleepers who like a contouring feel in the hip and shoulder areas. Back sleepers may enjoy some light conforming but likely wont find an overly soft mattress supportive, and stomach sleepers almost always prefer a firm bed.

Softer mattresses typically arent as durable as firmer beds, so they require more frequent replacement.

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Is A Spring Mattress Better Than Foam

Choosing the best mattress is a highly individual endeavor, and it depends on your sleep position and other preferences, so we cant say whether an innerspring mattress is better than a foam mattress. What we can tell you is that because of their coils, innerspring mattresses are naturally more breathable than foam mattresses . They also tend to offer a bouncier feel than all-foam beds, as well as better edge support. Foam beds, meanwhile, tend to hug the bodyparticularly if theyre made from memory foam. And they provide better pressure relief and motion isolation than innerspring mattresses.

If you like the feeling of sinking into a bed, a foam mattress may suit you best. If you want to feel more held up, opt for the innerspring. And if youre aiming for something between the two, try a hybrid mattress.