If your mattress is affecting your quality of sleep, it might be time for an upgrade. Here’s what you need to know before buying a new mattress.
Can you remember the last time you bought a new mattress? If it’s a distant memory, it might be time for an upgrade. The experts at Australian mattress brand Sleeping Duck recommend changing your mattress every eight to 10 years, to not only ensure you’re getting a good night’s sleep but that you’re supporting your body properly too.
“Some mattresses will sag over time. When you reach 10+ years, they start losing a lot of the support they had in the early days. You can also get a lot of dust mites or a build-up of potential bacteria in older mattresses,” said Yoni Paluch, Director of Customer Experience at Sleeping Duck.
Paluch said shoppers are more aware than ever of the importance of a good night’s sleep on both mental and physical health.
“If you’re leaving it too long and sleeping on an unsupported mattress, you’ll be waking up, tossing, trying to get yourself comfortable because you’re not in a really good position.
“That lack of sleep permeates the rest of your life. You won’t wake up as refreshed, you won’t be able to face the next day head-on and meet all the challenges that it’s throwing at you because you’re not getting that good night’s sleep.”
Important things to consider when purchasing a mattress
The most important thing to consider when selecting a new mattress, Paluch says, is comfort. He advises thinking about how best you like to sleep and being selective about the type of support that you need for your particular body type.
“Do you prefer that sinking feeling into the mattress or do you like sleeping on top of the mattress? If you’re a back sleeper maybe you’ll prefer something a little firmer; if you’re a side sleeper you may want something a bit softer, and if you have some pain in a certain area it might need to be firm in that area.”
But it’s not easy to make that decision by lying down on numerous mattresses for a couple of minutes each.
“You’re not getting the ability to see how that mattress would feel under real-life circumstances. And often once you purchase the mattress, there’s no going back,” Paluch said.
Sleeping Duck overcomes this with a try-at-home policy. If customers are not entirely happy, they can customise the mattress to the preferred way of sleeping through a modifiable segmented layout.
Another important thing to remember is to not get too hung up on the aesthetic as it will be covered up anyway. As it turns out, those pretty buttons you often see dotted across mattresses aren’t actually much use anyway.
“We find that [tufted covers] actually don’t allow your body to feel the proper firmness of the mattress.”
What type of mattress is best?
Breathable materials are becoming more and more popular and many brands now provide the ability to take off the top layer to wash and refresh.
When it comes to the inner workings of a mattress, there are a lot of choices available. Spring? Foam? A hybrid of the two perhaps? Yoni says it comes down to personal choice.
“It’s really about what you’re comfortable with. We feel that from a longevity perspective, getting real steel springs in your mattress is a big plus to keep the mattress lasting longer at that level of support.”
Where possible, he recommends testing out different firmness levels at home.
“A mattress is a big purchase that you’re going to be with for the next eight to 10 years. So, you really want to be able to get it right.”
Of course, when upgrading your mattress you need to think about how to responsibly dispose of your old one. Paluch said there are a number of mattress recycling facilities available, and Sleeping Duck customers can have their old mattresses collected for recycling.
“If someone’s only had the mattress for a few weeks and it’s in very good condition, we’ll offer it to the Salvation Army. The idea is to reduce waste as much as possible.”
If your mattress has seen better days and it’s time for a refresh, humm can help by spreading the payments out over an extended period.
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