If you’re not sleeping well, it’s easy to blame day to day stress, sounds in the night, or other factors, but the culprit might actually be the quality of your mattress. A lack of sleep can impact your health on many levels, including weight control, anxiety and tension, and back and neck pain. The right mattress gives your body adequate support and cradles your spine and joints.
How to Know When it’s Time to Replace a Mattress
A solid rule of thumb is to replace your mattress every 5 to 10 years. Some mattresses stay firm longer, while some wear out more quickly. The wear your mattress suffers, the weight of the sleeper, and the quality of the mattress will all affect how long it lasts. There are some sure signs it’s time for a new mattress:
- You regularly wake up feeling unrested
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- You sleep better in another bed- like at a motel or a friend’s
- You can feel lumps, sagging, or springs
- Your mattress has a “sweet spot”- an indentation where you lie for your best sleep
- Your mattress squeaks or groans when you roll over in bed
The Best Quality Mattress
Studies have shown that the best mattress is a “medium firm” mattress, but how do you determine such a subjective value? The fact is, every person has specific, unique individual sleep needs. Shopping around is a necessary step in finding the mattress that best suits you and your partner.
During sleep, our bodies completely relax. In that state, our spine and other structures lose the muscular support they normally have. When testing mattresses, it’s important to be as relaxed as possible. Once you’ve narrowed down your possible mattress purchases, try lying on each one for about 20 minutes, to get a more realistic feel for how it will support your body overnight.