Mattress Buying Guide

Mattress Buying Guide

HOW DO I SHOP FOR THE BEST BED FOR ME? In the course of a lifetime, you log more than 220,000 hours in bed -- far more time than you spend on the sofa, at the kitchen table, even in front of the TV. No other piece of furniture in your home gets as much use as your bed. That's why it's so important to find the one that's right for you. Here's what you should be looking for: Comfort. Gone are the days when a mattress had to be hard-as-a-board to be good for you. A too-hard mattress may only succeed in putting your shoulders and hips to sleep. You'll sleep best when your bed helps you feel cradled in comfort, cozy and secure. Today's top quality mattress/foundation ensembles are built for superior comfort. Luxurious new cushioning materials and extra-soft surface treatments create a plusher, more comfortable feel. Support. Correct support is the essential ingredient for a healthy body. A good mattress and foundation will gently support your body at all points and keep your spine in the same shape as a person with good standing posture. Pay special attention to your shoulders, hips and lower back--the heaviest parts. If there's too little support, you can develop back pain. But if the mattress is too rigid for you, you can experience uncomfortable pressure. A word about "firm." Don't rely on product labels to tell you which mattress will give you the right support. One manufacturer's "firm" may feel harder than another's "extra firm." The only way to find out if the support is right is to lie down and try. Durability. It's the quality of the materials used and how they're put together that determine how long a mattress and foundation will provide the comfort and support you bought them for. The best assurance of good performance over a good many years is to buy the highest quality sleep set you can afford. But don't expect a set of bedding to last forever. After 8-10 years of nightly use, even the best bedding will no longer provide the best comfort and support. A word about the warranty. Don't look to the warranty to tell you how long to keep your mattress and foundation. It's there to protect you against product defects, not against the gradual loss of comfort and support. A sleep set may still be usable after 15 or 20 years, but it's not giving you the good night's sleep you deserve. Space. Cramped quarters can turn sleeping into a nightly wrestling match. A healthy sleeper moves anywhere from 40 to 60 times a night, including some dozen full body turns. You need freedom of motion while you sleep and to help you relax while getting to sleep. If you sleep with a partner, be sure to select queen or king size. Both are not only wider, but several inches longer than the standard "double" (full size), which offers each sleeper only as much space as a baby in a crib.