Helpful Hints to Choose a Mattress for the Beauty Rest You Deserve
Getting your beauty rest isn’t just a term used for a more rested looking you. Your sleep is more important to your health than you may know. Getting the 7 to 9 hours each night suggested for adults is the driving force behind both your mental and physical health, and shouldn’t be taken lightly. How you sleep directly influences your sleep cycle, a series of stages your brain enters into each night that directly influences cognitive brain function, memory, and even problem solving skills. Bone growth, soft tissue repair, and cellular rejuvenation also take place while you sleep, as your heart rate drops and your body temperature lowers to focus energy towards these processes. It’s also a period of healing, and is supportive of your immune system.
When your sleep stages are interrupted, or you build up a sleep debt where your body enters into a literal craving for rest, your body is unable to fully complete these vital functions. It doesn’t take long to notice the negative effects from a lack of sleep, and within only a day your body already begins to react more slowly to stimuli and struggles with short term memory. By the end of day 4, you may have up to a 40% reduction in reaction rates, both mentally and physically. This can be detrimental to everyday function, and many vehicular and industrial accidents are actually related to sleep deprivation.
In the long run this also takes it’s toll on your cardiovascular health, puts you at a greater risk for obesity and diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and stroke.
Own Your Sleep
If you struggle to get comfortable each night, notice that your sleep is often interrupted, or wake feeling stiff and in pain, your mattress is most likely to blame. Although there are many underlying reasons for poor rest, a good rule of thumb is to always first consider your sleeping surface as it influences your sleep more than you may know. Old mattresses, or poor mattress choices for your sleeping position, are often a major culprit, and you may want to replace it as soon as possible.
With an increase in online shopping and the many companies taking advantage of a new way to buy and sell, there are more choices than ever available to the consumer. This is great in that you now have a wide variety of mattress styles, materials, and price ranges available to you, but that you also need to wade through a lot more information concerning these choices than you ever thought possible. Don’t let this deter you though, because the following steps will help point you in the right direction to get started and narrow down your choices.
How to Choose the Right Mattress
Start simple and with your likes and dislikes in mind. It also doesn’t hurt to first visit a mattress showroom just to feel the differences between what is considered a firm surface and a soft, or plush surface in varying materials. Memory foam, innerspring, and innerspring foam hybrids are the leading types of mattress construction available and each has it’s own unique feel and give as well.
Keep in mind that it’s worth your while to look at what both showrooms and online warehouses offer to give yourself the best possible deal, especially if you are on a budget. Even if you are unable to visit a showroom, most online mattress companies offer a sleep trial for you to determine if their mattress is the best fit for you.
Know Your Sleeping Style
One of the most common mistakes people make with choosing a mattress is not understanding how their sleep position is affected by the sleeping surface. Side sleepers need a softer surface in order to keep their spine in alignment and allow for their shoulders and hips to dissipate weight. Many side sleepers prefer a memory foam construction due to how it reduces these pressure points.
Back and stomach sleepers need a more firm surface to help provide support to the spine so it can curve naturally and strain against areas of the body that may sink into softer surfaces. Innerspring beds are often more popular for this position, although foam and hybrid construction does offer both firm and soft options as well. Many times a mid-range surface comfort is a good compromise when sleeping with a partner who has a different position.
Your weight is also a factor in your choices. Options for heavy people generally lean towards a more firm surface no matter your sleep position since more compression will occur. Even lightweight back and stomach sleepers may prefer a more plush comfort simply because they won’t sink as much.
Know Your Budget
Finances can make or break a person when considering a larger purchase, so it’s important to consider your budget in advance so you can stay within an acceptable range but still get the quality you deserve. Luckily for you the emergence of multiple new mattress startups and the use of technology to drive online sales has resulted in increased competition among the sleep industry and driven down cost.
Understand Quality Materials
No matter how you shop, either online or in a store, you will most likely be assaulted by new terminology pertaining to the mattresses you are interested in. Much of this has to do with the construction and the materials of the product, and others with the perks. With a little bit of foresight you can weed through what is only being mentioned to sound flashy drive a sale and what actually pertains to the quality of the mattress itself. This also will help you keep your costs down if budget is a concern.
Most of what is important surrounds the materials used in the actual construction mattress. Foam mattresses are created using a layered process to vary comfort and support. In order to understand foam quality you need to know that the density of foams are directly related to the quality of the foam. Density is measured by pounds per cubic foot, and the heavier it weighs, the more quality the foam is. Quality weights vary depending on the types of foams used so it’s important going in with an idea of what you are looking at when they start throwing the densities around.
Also important to know is that density is not at all related to surface comfort. A denser foam does not equal a more firm surface. This is measured by Indentation Load Deflection, an entirely separate measurement.
Innerspring mattress quality has to do less with the type of coil used in construction, and more with the thickness of the metal used, and the amount of coils involved. A lower gauge coil is thicker, and thus can hold up more weight over longer periods of time than a thinner coil. More coils often equals higher prices, but beware this possible misconstrued blunder because you may also notice in your research that reviewers don’t notice a difference over time between high count coil mattresses and average coil count mattresses. In some cases it seems you may just be purchases with extra material, not comfort or longevity.
Consider Your Partner
It’s very easy to shop for your personal preferences, but what if you have a partner? If you are lucky you both have similar sleeping positions and are of similar weights. But if you are different, you need to think about how your choices best serve both your needs. This is when a split mattress may become an ideal choice for the both of you. Split mattresses provide a multitude of options for sleeper preference and can also keep you sleeping more soundly due to the elimination of motion transfer.
Conclusion
Sleep is paramount to your overall health and beauty, so taking the time to get a good night’s rest should be a priority. Often when you sleep poorly it has more to do with your sleeping surface than any other variable. Because of this you should consider your current mattress and replace it if you feel it may be the source of your discomfort.
Shopping for a new mattress doesn’t need to be daunting if you consider a few personal choices before getting started. Your position and personal preferences plays a large part in narrowing down your search for the perfect mattress.
Frank Apodaca
@thesleepjudge
Latest posts by Frank Apodaca (see all)
- The Many Health Benefits of Proper Posture - June 19, 2017
- Helpful Hints to Choose a Mattress for the Beauty Rest You Deserve - May 15, 2017
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