How often should you buy a new mattress?
How much does a mattress matter? Sounds a bit like a tongue twister doesn’t it?
Despite being a bit difficult to say, it is in fact quite an important question. Well, there are two questions there really aren’t there?
How much does a mattress matter? Answer - a lot. The Sleep Council have got some interesting statistics showing that, in the UK, we spend 2,372.5 hours asleep in bed every year. That’s more than twice the time we spend on the internet, a staggering 55 times more hours than we spend exercising, over 10 times the time we put into cleaning the house and you really don’t want to know how it compares to how much time we spend having sex. (You do, don’t you. Alright then - we spend 19 hours a year making love, which is far less time than we spend sleeping. Enough said.)
What the figures prove is that sleep, and good quality sleep, is a very important part of our lives.
In fact it’s calculated that an uncomfortable mattress can cost you an hour’s sleep. Over time that adds up, and the more sleep you lose the more it affects your health and well-being.
Choosing a mattress is something you should do with care. For starters, try it out when you go to buy it. We won’t mind. It’s important that you find the mattress that’s right for you. It should provide the right level of support for your spine, which does not necessarily mean it has to be super firm or hard.
You’ll hear words like ‘orthopaedic’ bandied around on the subject of mattresses. Usually they’re indications of the relative firmness of a particular mattress within a manufacturer’s range. There is no national or universal ‘standard’ of firmness - so choose what feels best for you.
In general terms a firm mattress will be more expensive than a soft one because the fillings are more costly. But, a really firm, and expensive, mattress might prove uncomfortable for you, whilst a softer and less costly one might be perfect.
If though you do have a condition that affects your back or joints it’s always worth having a chat with your GP about beds.
Interrupted and lost sleep has a real impact on your life, and the wrong mattress can exacerbate, if not cause, back problems.
So, how often should you buy a new one? The problem here is that often a mattress is worn out without you realising it. The Sleep Council recommend that you buy a new mattress every seven years. There’s a reason for that. More figures coming! At the end of seven years a mattress has been through around 20,000 hours of use. That’s a lot of wear and tear. (It’s also a lot of other things - like the half pint of fluid your body loses every night. And the pound of dead skin cells you shed every year. Shall we move on?)
We stock a wide range of mattresses from major manufacturers. There’s our Reylon collection for instance. Made from high quality materials and traditional methods.
And we’re big fans of the the TEMPUR Hybrid Luxe. It combines the advanced TEMPUR material for pressure point relief with a dual layer of micro coils, individually encapsulated in fabric pockets to provide exceptional support. It’s also engineered to deliver a new, faster-responding feel by adapting to your temperature, weight and shape. If you share a bed, motion transfer is dampened because each person is independently supported so you can both sleep undisturbed.
Come in, and try them. And many more. Because you mattress matters.
Shall we try another tongue twister? If your mattress matters how often should you turn to turning it? The short answer is regularly. It makes for even wear. Just be careful because a mattress can be heavy, and you don’t want to injure your back. Because that would mean you’d need to consider buying a new…..you can see where this is going!
And finally we come to another issue. Size does matter. The fact is that most of us don’t buy big enough beds and mattresses. Three quarters of all the beds out there in use are still the standard 4ft 6in - or ‘Double Bed - size. We now know that that’s not big enough for two adults to be comfortable and not disturb each other’s sleep. Just one step up to the 5ft - or ‘King Size’ - bed can make a huge difference. Give it some thought when you get to the end of those seven years
All in all then your mattress matters and it really matters that you regularly turn your attention to turning it before, after seven years, you turn to buying a new one. If you see what we mean!
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18th December 2017