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How Your Mattress Affects Your Sleep
My Sleep Haven
Have you been losing sleep over trying to pick a new mattress? Sorry. It was right there, we couldn’t resist. But choosing the best place to buy a mattress is no joke. It’s expensive, it will be a part of your life for a long time and you’re probably going to be spending a lot of time on it.
Most of us spend nearly a third of our lives sleeping or at least trying to. Your mattress is going to play a large role in how well you sleep and whether or not you wake up rested, refreshed and ready to take on the world. So we’re going to cover how your mattress impacts your sleep quality and what you should look for based on your preferences and sleep style.
Comfort and Firmness
The special feeling that makes a mattress never-want-to-leave-it comfortable is going to be different for everyone. One person’s “best mattress ever” maybe someone else’s “how can you sleep on that?”. It’s all about firmness, sleep positions, and personal preferences.
There are comfort levels, or categories of firmness, that are fairly standard throughout the mattress industry. The classifications range from extra firm (kind of like sleeping on the floor) to extra-plush (kind of like sleeping on a pillow). But because the vast majority of us aren’t particularly comfortable sleeping on floors or massive pillows (it sounds nice, but your back would wind up hating you), the most popular mattresses land somewhere in the middle.
Mattress firmness is set on a sliding scale of 1 (the softest) to 10 (the hardest). In the mattress world the phrase “universal comfort” may come up from time to time. But realistically, a mattress that is perfect for everyone is a unicorn, as in, not a real thing. But “universal comfort” refers to the 5-7 range of firmness where most people are likely to find themselves comfortable.
Firmness Scale
While comfort has a lot to do with how much you like the initial feel of a mattress it also involves how well a mattress contours your body in all positions and how well it responds to your movement. So, even with the firmness scale is a process of standardization, there is still subjectivity in firmness that depends on your gender, age, body type, and weight. For example, the heavier you are, the more firmness and support you're going to need.
Your overall comfort also depends largely on the position you sleep in. The broadest categories of sleep positions include back sleepers, side sleepers, and stomach sleepers but most people cycle through those positions throughout the night and your comfort level with a mattress will involve how it responds to your body from all angles.
BACK SLEEPERS
Sleeping on your back is generally agreed to be the most advantageous sleeping position, even though it is definitely not the most popular. Laying on your back creates the most neutral position for the head, neck, and spine. It can also help alleviate acid reflux and heartburn. However, it can also exacerbate back pain and snoring.
Back sleepers may have the largest range when it comes to mattress comfort. Mattresses that fall into the 4-8 range should be comfortable as long as there is adequate support to prevent sagging, and decent contouring.
SIDE SLEEPERS
Side sleeping is a highly common position that is generally beneficial to your overall health by reducing back pain and snoring while promoting digestive function. Side sleepers usually enjoy a mattress that is on the softer side, in the 3-6 range, because it allows their shoulders and hips to sink into the bed where firmer mattresses may create additional pressure on those points. However, a mattress that is too soft can create joint pain if those points are sinking too far into the mattress.
STOMACH SLEEPERS
If you sleep on your stomach, you may experience more sleep-related issues than side and back sleepers. Many stomach sleepers experience pain in their backs, necks, or joints because of the strain stomach sleeping can place on the spine. Additionally, when you sleep face down but turn your head to the side, it can twist your neck leading to problems over time.
However, if this is your preferred position, you can still get a good night’s sleep by choosing a mattress that provides sufficient firmness and support. Stomach sleepers should look at mattresses in the 5-7 range. Anything too soft will likely add additional stress on the back, only a little sinkage for the stomach area is needed for those who sleep on their stomachs.
Most of us tend to assume each of these positions at some point in the night, and as we lie on one particular part of our body, it restricts the blood flow. When that happens, our brains receive the message that it's time to change positions. With that in mind, no matter what your prime sleep position may be, your mattress should be comfortable, contouring, and responsive in every sleep position.
Health And Wellness
One of the simplest things anyone can ask from their mattress, or their daily night’s sleep, is to wake up pain-free. So let’s talk about pain. The quality and age of your mattress can be the cause of some nocturnal pain. If you wake up with neck pain, it may be a result of sleeping without enough neck support. If your pillow is too high or too low, your neck will not be aligned with your spine.
When it comes to middle and lower back pain, both your sleeping position and the support in your mattress can be the contributing factors. If you wake up with back pain that goes away after about a half an hour, that’s a good indicator that your mattress is not doing you any favors.
Sleep-related back pain can occur when a lack of support puts a strain on your spine and back muscles. While this is a common problem with mattresses that are too soft, it can also come from a bed that is too firm. It might also be the result of a bed that has outlived its life span and has started to sag in the middle. If you wake frequently throughout the night, get up feeling stiff or sore, and your mattress is around ten years old - your mattress may well be the source of your discomfort.
Hip and shoulder pain can also stem from a mattress that is too soft, too firm or too old. Side sleepers, in particular, may require some extra cushioning in these areas to provide the necessary support. If there is not enough give in the mattress, the additional pressure on these points can result in soreness. Ultimately a mattress should provide proper spinal alignment for the hips and shoulders by conforming to the body without sagging
As a side note - while a great mattress can help relieve some common aches, if you are in any kind of pain, make sure to talk to your doctor for the right treatment.
Speaking of health, mattresses can also play a role in health-related considerations like allergies and asthma and they can also impact the overall air quality of your home. There are a few key elements of mattresses that contribute to how you breathe.
All mattresses are made a little differently, but the materials used can have an impact on your indoor air quality. That's why organic cotton and wool and Certipur certified foam make such a big difference. You can also look for Global Organic Latex Standard ( GOLS) certified and Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified mattress materials and mattresses. These certifications ensure that the mattress is made from high-quality components that will reduce the quantity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air in your home.
Allergies and asthma can also be triggered by mattress related factors Dust, skin particles, dust mites, and dust mite droppings can all accumulate in mattresses, mattress toppers, box springs, and bedding. While pillow tops and innersprings can be extra accommodating to dust mites, they will find their way into all types of mattresses. As if dust mites weren't enough, mold and mildew can also develop in mattresses, particularly on the underside and in memory foam. None of these challenges can be completely eliminated by any mattress, but mattresses constructed to promote airflow and mattresses with covers made of quality materials can reduce them.
One other consideration that factors into your health and comfort is temperature. Innerspring and latex mattresses are traditionally more breathable and cooler than memory foam mattresses. However, memory foam is so comfortable and contouring that modern mattress manufacturers have put a great deal of energy into engineering various cooling mechanisms. Those range from open-cell structures that promote airflow to gel and other material infusions that will absorb heat or prevent the retention of heat. Cooling and breathable mattresses can be a first line of defense against mold and mildew. Most mattress brands are conscious of heat retention issues and highlight the cooling features of their mattress construction.
How To Choose A Mattress
Choosing a mattress is a major decision. With so many different mattresses available it can seem like you’re swimming in a sea of memory foam, latex, innerspring coils, and other space-age polymers. There are also so many other considerations that it’s easy to become overwhelmed.
But no matter how much advice you read, there’s no formula for a “perfect” mattress. It will all depend on factors and quirks that are completely unique to you. The more self-aware you are about how you sleep and what you like, the better off you’ll be.
Pay extra attention to your sleep style and how you feel in bed when you’re trying to sleep and immediately after waking up. Here is a shortlist of the questions to ask yourself to help you zero in on the right mattress:
Which position do you sleep in most?
Side sleepers tend to benefit from softer mattresses while stomach sleepers need harder mattresses and back sleepers are right about in the middle.
Do you like your mattress on the harder or softer side?
Your sleep position may dictate our range on the scale but your personal preference can inform where in the range you fall.
Do you wake up with pain?
If so these parts of your body may need extra support and you’ll gravitate toward mattresses that promote spinal alignment and relief for these pressure points.
Do you sleep hot?
If so, look closely at the temperature control and the breathability of the design.
Are you sensitive to allergies or asthma?
If you are, the construction of the mattress can make a big difference, consider materials, airflow, and the mattress cover or protector.
Have you ever made a bad decision?
We all do. Everyone has photographic proof of a regrettable haircut. But you can mitigate your mistakes by looking for a mattress with a long trial duration, customer service, and free returns.
The Cost
One final point - the best mattress doesn’t have to be the most expensive. The price of a mattress is a reflection of the materials it’s built from, along with sourcing and manufacturing considerations and of course overhead. One of the reasons direct-to-consumer mattress companies have become so successful is related to their ability to cut traditional costs like having showrooms staffed with salespeople.
In the beginning, the inability to touch a or better yet, lay on a mattress before buying it may have been a barrier for consumers. But over time, as we’ve all become more accustomed to making purchases based on pictures, descriptions, and reviews, it only makes sense that the idea of buying a mattress this way has become more popular.
It also helps that many mattress brands also offer in-home sleep trials. Yes, it’s a process to have the mattress set up and your old one removed for a trial. But you have more time to adjust and really get a “feel” for the mattress. It is also probably better than sleeping in public at a mattress showroom.
There are a lot of reasons a person might struggle with sleeping well. Overeating too close to bedtime, too much caffeine, blue light emissions, stress, anxiety, insomnia, sleep apnea, and a number of other health conditions. A new mattress can't fix those things. But it can address problems that may exist because you’re currently sleeping on an old or poor quality mattress. And even if your mattress is well-made, it might not be the right material or firmness level for your particular needs. We hope that our research on mattresses and sleep will help make the challenge of choosing a new mattress a little easier for you to overcome.
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