How to Buy a Bed

"What is a good night's sleep? How my mattress changed my life- from aaaahhhhh! to zzzzzzzzzzzzz."

When you walk into a mattress store what do you see?

20 to 50 white rectangles, right? Ranging in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

How are you supposed to know the real differences, if you’re spending too much or too little, and which one is right for YOU?

Most consumers say they want a “good mattress for their back” or something “more comfortable” than they have at home. Both of these are important characteristics in a new mattress, but asking a sales person to help is no guarantee you’ll find the right one, you need to make that decision for yourself.

Simply stated, good sleep is when we wake refreshed & energized, physiologically there’s a process that occurs to accomplish this. This process rotates through a sequence of 5 sleep stages multiple times per night.

• 1. Theta Waves
• 2. Sleep Spindles
• 3. Transition Delta Waves
• 4. Delta Waves
• 5. REM (Rapid Eye Movement)

If this process is interrupted it has to “reset”, when this happens over and over, we wake feeling exhausted, like we didn’t sleep at all, because we really didn’t!

What causes interruptions to our sleep process? PRESSURE.

Pressure on our muscles prevents our body from relaxing and beginning the sleep process.

Pressure on our circulation causes us to move, constantly “resetting” our sleep process.

So, how can you tell what mattress provides the best pressure relief?

It’s pretty simple, just use these 5 simple steps on each mattress you try at the store:

• 1. Lay down, and put your feet up on the bed (that's what they're there for)
• 2. Roll onto your side
• 3. Count slowly to 30, concentrate on the pressure you feel in hip & shoulder.
• 4. Rate the pressure you feel from 1 to 10
• 5. Record result & repeat this process on EVERY mattress you try.

As you travel through the store you’ll quickly determine what beds work for you body and what beds don’t.

When you’ve narrowed down which beds relieve pressure the best, revisit them and go through the process again. This time ask a friend or a salesperson to view your profile from the side of the bed, looking to see if your spine appears relaxed and comfortable.

Most new beds provide adequate support, but you want to be sure the bed you choose properly maintains optimal spinal posture too.

Ask you partner or sales person to look at the alignment of your body when lying on each bed. You’re looking for the spine to be parallel with the mattress. Hips & shoulders should sink deeper but the line of your spine should be straight.

If your spine curls into a U shape then the mattress is not supporting you properly.

If your spine is straight then you have proper support even if the mattress feels softer than you expected.

Many people think a “hard” or “firm” mattress is better for their back. With today’s bedding materials this is not necessarily true. In fact a mattress that is too “hard “ or “firm” will actually create excessive pressure on your muscles and circulation preventing you from getting a good nights’ sleep.

If you follow these simple steps you will find the best bed for your body which will in turn give you the “better sleep tonight” you are looking for.