How to choose a mattress?

Guarantee of a comfortable sleep

The warmth and comfort of your own bed, your entire body feels relaxed and still a bit sleepy -these are the joys of a really comfortable night sleep. Often we don’t appreciate them that much, take them for granted or even do not notice. We jump quickly off the bed, drink our morning coffee in a hurry and here we are, already in a great rush to solve thousands of important daily problems.

 Still, sleeping always has been and will always remain an indispensable part of our life. It is the source of energy and force, our body needs so much. Our health and mood depends on it, sleeping helps to us relax, to forget about the daily fuss, to recharge our energies. That is why we should take good care of our sleep, just as good as of a child.

The quality of sleep depends on the surface we sleep on, and this surface is, in most cases a mattress. Maybe you think that a mattress is something very special, something that just sick people may need. The advertising is full off messages like: “Have you got pain in your back? Suffering of a bad night’s sleep? - It’s time to get a mattress!”. Well, that’s not true. Every person obviously needs sleep and also needs a mattress. The question is what kind of mattress should it be?

For the people with health problems there are special orthopedic mattresses. And you can evaluate weather it is necessary or not in every particular case after a visit to the orthopedic doctor. However, for the majority of us, however, a modern mattress should be a suitable, comfortable alternative for the old sofa, bed, or a convertible sofa or armchair. Or maybe a good alternative for the old mattress, as mattresses also grow old and out of date technically.  A well chosen mattress, produced from high/quality materials, thought out in every detail will be a guarantee of a comfortable resting night by night and will provide the chance to recharge your energy for every day.

Balance of the 3 criteria

Nowadays the customer is offered an extremely wide range of models of mattresses. But it is easy enough to choose a correct and durable one, the only thing necessary is to spend enough time on this process and one should learn to listen carefully to his own body signals. 

There are 3 main criteria we must take into account while choosing a mattress: its rigidity, the quality of the support of the body and the size. The product that ideally suits you should meet the optimal combination of these 3 criteria.

The level of rigidity is actually indicated in the description of any mattress. But you shouldn’t blindly trust the indications, provided by the manufacturer. The rigidity of a mattress is felt differently by every individual. That’s why it’s so important to have the chance to lie omn the mattress before buying it. This is the only way to see what is the mattress really like.  

A correctly chosen product is neither too rigid, nor too soft. It has to maintain the backbone in an anatomically proper position while sleeping -  a horizontal line while lying sidelong, and a wavy line, with some cavities in the region of the hips and the upper shoulder girdle, if we rest lying on the back or on the stomach. 

A too rigid mattress would put an excessive load on the body. The muscles of the back and neck would always be strained, trying to maintain the bone in a natural position. If the mattress is too soft, however, it neither will give you a proper resting – the body “drowns” in it and the muscles of the body have to strain in order to compensate the lack of support of the bone. Thus, the best solution is the average rigidity level, while choosing a mattress that best suits you.

The quality of the support of the body is closely connect with such a characteristic of the mattress as point elasticity. It determines the level of independence of  every unit of the product surface while reacting to pressure. The highest point elasticity is characteristic for the mattresses made on the basis of independent spring blocks, where each spring has its separate case and is completely independent, as well as for the non-spring mattresses, made of natural latex blocks or blocks of  high elastic polyurethane.

But how exactly does the point elasticity influence the quality of the support of the body? On the capacity of the mattress to react on pressure depends its capacity to support the body of the person lying on it in the optimal, best position, flexibly adopting itself to its form and posture.      This kind of mattresses are called “orthopedic” and represent the highest stage of mattress industry.

But how can we be sure that the mattress has a sufficient point elasticity? You probably already know half of the answer / by lying on it, of course! And your body, after a couple of tests will finally find itself in ideal comfort and careful support, will tell you the second half of the answer itself. All you have to do is to listen carefully to what is trying to say.  

Choosing in practice

Here are some rules and suggestions which will help you to choose the necessary mattress:

 

1. The wider the range of the available models, the more chances to find “your model” among them.

1. Going out to buy a mattress put on comfortable clothes, your shoes should be comfortable as well, and easy to take off (the last is not always necessary, however, the mattresses often have the protective cover in the region of the feet).
2. If a mattress seems comfortable after the first look, lie on it and take the position you usually fall asleep and wake up in.
3. Lie down on your back and put a palm under your hips. Try to run your hand between the mattress and your back towards your shoulders. If the palm slips easily between the back and the surface of the mattress or you feel a discomfort in your hips or shoulders, the mattress is too rigid.
4. Try to turn alongside. If an effort is necessary to do so, the mattress is too soft. If lying alongside there is some free space between the mattress and your belly, the mattress is too rigid as well.
5. He mattress has to be durable and of good quality, the joints and the fabric of the cover mustn’t have any imperfections or irregularities.
6. The corners of the mattress shouldn’t rise while somebody tries to lie on it, the corners should be rigid and flexible. The mattress shouldn’t rise either scoop while you turn on it.

Look for a mattress for two — perform the testing of the mattress together with your partner. Check if there is enough space on it for both of you,  if you are comfortable together, while turning alongside.