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Mattress Super Store
The Ultimate
Mattress Buying Guide
Between types of mattresses, sleeping styles, and added features, it can be difficult to even know where to begin. Mattress manufacturers will confuse things further, as they all claim they have the best mattress.
The truth is, everyone’s mattress needs are different.
Luckily, we’ve spent decades in the industry, helping countless people find their ideal mattress.
We’ve compiled those years of experience into this simple, straightforward guide, to help you rest easy as soon as possible! With that said, here is Mattress Superstore’s ultimate guide to finding a new mattress in 2020 and beyond.
There are seven simple questions you’ll need to answer to find your ideal mattress.
1. Do you need a mattress?
2. Which mattress types are available?
3. Which mattress type is best for your sleeping style?
4. What are the most important mattress features?
5. How important is a good mattress foundation?
6. What should you avoid when buying a mattress?
7. Where should you buy your mattress?
1. Do you need a mattress?
First and foremost you should understand if you even need a new mattress.
This question alone can divide the average mattress buyer. There are typically two groups of people: those who replace mattresses too early, and those who are still sleeping on a mattress from the 1980’s.
Obviously both extremes have their own problems. Luckily the solution to both is understanding the signs your mattress is ready to be replaced.
In general, the rule of thumb is to replace your mattress every 7–10 years. However, this timeline varies based on a number of factors, and mattresses don’t have internal timers.
The best way to know when it is time for a change is to pay attention to the signs of an aging mattress.
If your mattress is over 5 years old, start to take note of how you are sleeping. For instance, are you noticing back pain that wasn’t there a few years ago? Maybe you are waking up groggy, or notice you toss and turn in you.
- You do not wake up feeling rested
- You wake up in pain
- You feel pressure points of pain where your body contacts your mattress
- You wake up groggy
- Your mattress looks or feels saggy or lumpy
- Your mattress squeaks or creaks as you move
- You sleep much better in a hotel room or friend’s house
- You feel as if your mattress swallows you each night
- You toss and turn to get comfortable each night
- You wake up to change position throughout the night
2. Which mattress types are available?
An innerspring mattress is what most people think of when they think of a mattress. It has been the standard for sleep for decades, and is only very recently losing its tight grip on the world of sleep.
With that said, it is still by far the most common type of mattress, as it provides relatively good customer satisfaction at a great price.
The core of the mattress is a series of sturdy, intertwined steel springs, supported from the outside by more steel for strong edge support.
Foam is packed all around these springs to provide the cushion to the mattress. The overall mattress weight is generally high due to the steel springs, and they have to be shipped full size.
Innerspring mattresses are cooler because they do not hug the body. However this also means they do not contour to the body much and may be less comfortable. Overall they still provide stronger support at a good cost. However, they do break down faster than other options.
All foam or Memory foam mattresses are more popular than ever, especially with people who look to move away from innerspring mattresses.
The entire structure of a memory foam mattress is made from specific low-resistance foam. This foam has a good response to pressure, and helps contour the body much better than spring mattresses, thus reducing pressure points.
The mattresses tend to be medium-firm to firm, and may provide the ideal comfort and support for people with aches and pains during sleep.
As the now-famous commercials show us, memory foam mattresses do not transfer motion from one part of the bed to another. This is great for partners who work different hours or those who move throughout the night. Movements on a foam mattress are much less likely to disturb someone sleeping next to you.
However, foam mattresses have a reputation for being much hotter than other options. Luckily, technology has also helped the mattress world evolve. Now there are a number of cooler foam options to choose from, including specific cooling gel foams or foams which allow more air to circulate to the body. They can be packed and shipped much easier than innerspring models. Also, keep in mind these All foam or “Memory Foam” Mattresses do tend to develop soft spots where a person lays over a period of a couple of years.
The type of foam is important to note here, as most models are not made of 100% memory foam. Some may contain other harmful ingredients, such as formaldehyde or flame retardants. There are a bunch of lesser expensive All Foam or Memory Foam mattresses that are being sold on Amazon, Wal-mart, and Wayfair that are imported from China and these mattresses have lots of complaints about strong chemical smells. Look for CertiPUR-US certified mattress foams to avoid these issues.
Individual pocketed coil mattresses make a good choice for many people. They take the strong support of a spring mattress and add new levels of comfort to it.
They can have a lower price than many more “luxurious” options such as latex and foam, but may offer comparable features.
In many areas, pocketed coil mattresses are taking over the “industry standard” slot from innerspring mattresses.
The main reason for this is that the mattress is made up of hundreds of individual springs. These individual springs allow for new levels of comfort and responsiveness in the mattress that the design of an innerspring could never achieve.
Because these springs move independently, they can also contour to the body better than intertwined springs. The added foam on top of these mattresses helps provide more comfortable support as well. Together, these features mean these mattresses also have less motion transfer than innerspring mattresses.
At the same time, pocketed coils are more sturdy than foam mattresses, and provide stronger support for those who need it. The spring strength also means they tend to last much longer than a foam core.
However, these mattresses can also be very heavy, and they have to be shipped full size. Additionally, foam quality can really make or break these mattresses. Low quality foam can make for a very uncomfortable sleeping experience down the road.
A hybrid mattress may refer to a blend of one or more mattress types, though it initially meant a blend between a pocketed coil mattress and a memory foam mattress. Plus hybrid mattresses have a smooth top fabric without the traditional tack and jump quilting that an innerspring or pocketed coil mattress may have.
Hybrids aim to make up for the ways mattress types are lacking by combining them with other supportive mattress types. For instance, the individual pocked coils in a hybrid mattress provide strong support, but the memory foam top provides the needed comfort the pocket springs may lack.
Because of this, hybrids tend to be good for many sleepers, and provide a nice mix of comfort and support. They also tend to be cooler than memory foam or all foam mattresses, but not as pricey as latex.
The memory foam or gel memory foam on these mattresses will make for better motion transfer, while the pocketed springs will help keep you from feeling swallowed by the foam.
However, hybrids are very heavy, which makes shipping and delivery a chore. They can also be much more expensive than simple spring or foam options. With that said, people who are willing to spend the money may be much more satisfied with their purchase. Hybrids are a great choice for someone that wants to dial in their comfort and maximize support.
3. Which mattress type is best for your sleeping style?
4. What are the most important mattress features?
No matter what type of sleeper you are, you will still have a unique experience when it comes to sleep and the type of mattress you need. With that said, you should aim to look for a few important mattress features, and match them to your individual needs.
Keep in mind that you won’t really know how well a mattress performs in some ways unless you try it out for a while. Whenever possible, look for a mattress that has a trial period, allowing you to return the mattress if it does not meet your needs. .
Understanding the size of the mattress you need is simple. It is a matter of who is sleeping on the mattress and how much space they need.
This is intuitive enough. For instance, a 6 year old child probably doesn’t need a California king mattress.
Most adults are comfortable on a Twin XL, but most opt for at least a full size mattress, which can fit either one or two people. Queen mattresses are also more common for partners, as they add extra space for both people to move comfortably.
King or California king mattresses are more a matter of extravagance than comfort most of the time. And there is nothing wrong with that! If you want to feel luxurious every time you settle in for bed, a king mattress will literally have you feeling like royalty.
Mattress dimensions per size:
- Cal King: 72 inches wide x 84 inches long
- King: 76 inches wide x 80 inches long
- Split King: 76 inches x 80 inches long (2 – Twin XL mattresses make up this dimension)
- Queen: 60 inches wide x 80 inches long
- Full: 54 inches wide x 74 inches long
- Twin: 38 inches wide x 74 inches long
- Twin XL: 38 inches wide x 80 inches long
These are industry standard dimensions and will vary depending on how tight the person sewing the mattress up sewed it. We like to tell customers that mattress dimensions are give or take an inch or so.
Firmness is another straightforward term, referring to how soft or firm a mattress feels. Firmness is measured on a 1 to 10 scale.
A 1 would be like sleeping on a pile of feathers, and a 10 would be like sleeping on the floor. Most people are somewhere in the middle, and 1 and 10 are more reference points than actual firmness levels.
Firmness tends to vary by the type of sleeper:
- Side sleepers: Firmness 3 to 6. Side sleepers need softer support to prevent pressure points and contour the body.
- Back sleepers: Firmness 5 to 8. Back sleepers need good support for their spine and neck, especially their lower back, to prevent back pain.
- Stomach sleepers: Firmness 7 to 9. Stomach sleepers need more rigid mattresses to counteract the stress this position puts on their spine and chest.
While support and firmness are related, they are not the same thing. Firmness is how dense a mattress feels when you push on it, where support is how much weight it can hold and still keep its shape to support your body.
Couples or people who are overweight should look for high support mattresses that can still maintain their properties with extra weight on them.
Responsiveness is another term people tend to get confused about. It simply means how well a mattress responds to your body and motion as you sleep.
Everyone moves when they sleep. From people who make small adjustments to get more comfortable to those who flail their arms and roll across the bed.
A responsive mattress will adjust to these motions automatically and make it much less likely for a person to wake up. Responsive mattresses may be more important for light sleepers.
Durability is a straightforward term that indicates how resilient a mattress is and how long it will last. Stronger materials will last a longer time and be less likely to sag or wear thin. High durability mattresses such as latex can last much longer than non-durable alternatives.
Edge support is the strength of the very edges of a mattress. It is what keeps you from rolling off the mattress when sleeping near the edge.
Innerspring mattresses are the best example of high edge support, as they have an outer steel frame that keeps you on top of the mattress and towards the center. Edge support is most important for restless sleepers who move a lot as they sleep.
Pressure relief is a term that means how well a mattress helps relieve tension in the body to allow it to relax – without creating additional pressure points.
Pressure relief is determined by a mixture of other factors such as support and firmness, but is also a matter of weight distribution. A mattress that allows you to evenly distribute your weight may relieve pressure with ease.
Here again is an industry term that is determined by other mattress factors, but is still very important. A mattress with good spine alignment will allow the spine to rest in the most neutral position possible. The type of mattress this is will vary based on what kind of sleeper you are.
- Side sleepers: Continuous alignment from the tailbone all the way to the neck, which comes from a softer mattress to avoid pressure points.
- Back sleepers: The back keeps its natural curve, thanks to a supportive mattress.
- Stomach sleepers: Very hard to maintain neutral spine, if possible at all. Some can use pillows to adjust their hips and keep their spine neutral.
Heat transfer or temperature control is how well the mattress can pull heat away from the body to keep you from overheating. This is important for everyone, and a good mattress will help pull heat away from the body and keep it insulated in the mattress itself.
With that said, heat transfer is most important for warm sleepers who tend to wake up hot or sweaty.
It may seem like an afterthought, but a good mattress should have some sort of trial period or return policy. You are never guaranteed to like a mattress, even if it looks great on paper.
Make sure to pay attention to the trial period a company is offering, as well as any warranty info and their overall return policy.
While it may seem like an added expense, having a delivery service drop your mattress off and take away your old mattress is worth every penny.
Shipping is especially important with internet purchases, though many brick-and-mortar stores include the service and take the mattress to your house.
Factor in this cost as a necessary expense. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with a very heavy mattress and a difficult time getting in your bedroom or even worse upstairs bedroom.
5. How important is a good mattress foundation?
6. What should you avoid when buying a mattress?
7. Where should you buy your mattress?
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