October 6, 2020, 12:04 pm | Read time: 8 minutes

Humans spend one-third of their lives sleeping. To ensure this time is as restful as possible, it’s important to have a good bed. The foundation for restful hours in bed is the right mattress. Here’s what to consider when buying a mattress and why optimal lying positions may not always feel comfortable right away.

1. Tip: Raise Awareness for Healthy Sleeping

When looking for a new mattress, there are several aspects to keep in mind. According to the expert, the biggest wish for many is to “lie as well and healthily as possible.” What many are not aware of: “The entire skeletal system, muscles, and intervertebral discs regenerate during sleep. A poor sleeping position, a mattress that is too hard or too soft, or a sagging, poorly supporting slatted frame can prevent the body from recovering ideally during sleep. In the worst case, you wake up in the morning feeling ‘like you’ve been run over.’ This not only affects mental well-being. Physical discomfort, pain, disc problems, muscle tension, or painful pressure points can also be caused by the wrong sleeping position.”

2. Tip: A Good Feeling Is Not an Indicator of Healthy Sleeping!

Quickly trying out a mattress in a furniture store and then judging if it fits? You can safely dismiss this notion. A layperson can hardly judge what really matters for healthy sleeping. “You notice what feels good to you, but whether your spine is optimally positioned on the mattress and whether your body is in the ideal position must be shown to you by the store’s advisor during the trial,” says the expert.

3. Tip: In Professional Advice, the Customer, Never the Mattress, Is the Focus

When buying a mattress, competent, individual advice is important. According to Braun, this takes between 20 and 40 minutes: “A knowledgeable advisor will explain all the necessary ergonomic facts to you. They will let you feel for yourself which mattress is optimal. It is necessary for them to inquire about possible complaints, pain, and sleeping habits, touch the customer, and guide them through different mattresses. The trial lying is done on mattresses without plastic packaging. They should clearly show you the differences and explain why one model might be better suited for your individual case than another. This way, it will quickly become apparent which mattress or material is ideal for your body.”

4. Tip: The Figure Is the Most Important Criterion in Mattress Selection

The story of a mattress begins with the buyer’s figure. However, it’s not the weight but the body proportions that are crucial. Therefore, the image of the spine should always be the focus during a mattress test. People with what Braun calls a “billboard figure,” meaning a straight posture and evenly distributed proportions, find it easier to find the right mattress. For women with a more demanding figure, such as light weight but very feminine body shapes, the search is more challenging.

Also interesting: 14 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Bed

5. Tip: Consider Complaints, Pre-existing Conditions, and Sleeping Habits

An important component in the mattress search is the inquiry about existing complaints and allergies as well as pre-existing conditions. Sleeping habits also play an important role. This way, it can be determined in which areas the mattress can better and more sensibly support or relieve the body. “If the sleeping position is optimized by an individually adapted mattress, the body is literally brought back into its correct form. This has a positive effect on the muscles, intervertebral discs, and ultimately on the entire support and movement system. Often, the pain disappears after just a few days.

6. Tip: Choose the Mattress Material Individually

Whether innerspring, cold foam, latex, visco foam, or natural materials: Which mattress material makes its way into the bedroom depends not only on personal preferences. The deciding factor is always ergonomics and therefore the question: What do I need to do to sleep and regenerate optimally for eight hours? The different materials have significant disadvantages:

Overview of Mattress Materials

• Innerspring: It is one of the harder materials. However, the iron contained in these mattresses has a significant disadvantage. It always adapts to the room temperature. If you sleep in a cool room at, for example, 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the iron in the mattress also cools down. This can irritate the muscles during sleep and lead to complaints. Also, for very full figures or people with a very pronounced waist, an innerspring mattress is not the best choice. The mattress must accompany the body as it is built. This is not the case with an innerspring mattress.
• Cold foam and latex: Recommended for allergy sufferers. Both materials ventilate well, with cold foam being of higher quality than latex. However, cold foam is not as durable as latex.
• Visco foam: This mattress material was originally used for patient care. “The material gives the illusion of lying on clouds. However, it has no support properties. The body needs support. If it is positioned incorrectly, tension and neck pain can occur,” says Braun.
• Mattresses made of natural materials like sheep’s wool, horsehair, or coconut: They are not suitable for allergy sufferers. After relatively short use, these mattresses become hard and are no longer ergonomic.

“No matter which type of mattress you choose, the basic rule is: The chosen mattress must fit like a tailored suit. It should relieve the body overall, but clearly support the waist and lower back. The shoulders, pelvis, and hips must sink in so that the body is kept evenly balanced.”

Walter Braun, Mattress Specialist and Sleep System Developer

7. Tip: Mattress Thickness Is Not Necessarily Decisive

The thicker a mattress is, the better you sleep on it. This supposed and widespread assumption unfortunately turns out to be a mattress myth. To sleep healthily and restfully, you don’t have to sleep like the princess on the pea: “What a mattress can do does not depend on its thickness but on the figure. It is nonsense to buy a thicker mattress in the hope of sleeping well. Tests have shown that even thinner mattresses can achieve a lot.” Only for very slim or heavier people does it make sense to look for a thicker mattress. The mattress base also plays a role that should not be underestimated.

8. Tip: Pay Attention to Lying Zones for Ergonomic Sleeping

“The ‘right’ mattress provides the whole body, but especially the spine, with the right support in both the back and side positions through its elastic properties. It supports certain body zones, especially the body hollows like the waist and lumbar spine, while relieving the prominent body parts (shoulders, pelvis, sacral area),” emphasizes the expert.

This is made possible by special lying zones. Since everyone is built differently, they also need different lying zones. A man who is 6 feet 3 inches tall needs different zones than a woman who is 5 feet 3 inches tall. A broad-shouldered type must lie differently than a narrow-shouldered type. Fuller individuals perceive a zoned mattress quite differently than slimmer ones.

Especially for women, lying zones can be sensible and recommendable. However, zones are not necessarily a universal solution for everyone. Nor, by the way, are extensive product tests if you don’t lie optimally on these mattresses yourself.

9. Tip: Box Spring Beds Are Stylish but Not Recommended

There has been a real hype around box spring beds for some time. They impress with their appealing, luxurious design and promise a comfortable sleeping experience. But you are not really well-bedded on this type of bed: “Box spring beds make an impression, but I must warn against them. They have a tendency to sag and are poorly designed ergonomically.” The consequences: You feel uncomfortable in the long run, the pelvis sags while sleeping. It can lead to complaints like stiffness and muscle problems.

10. Tip: Adjustment Problems with a New Mattress Are Not Uncommon

Many people sleep for years on an unsuitable mattress. That the new and ergonomically correct mattress is then perceived as uncomfortable in the first few nights is not uncommon: “A body that has been incorrectly bedded for years often initially reacts with adjustment problems. In most cases, however, this adjustment is completed after a few days,” reassures Braun.

Also interesting: Cleaning the Mattress – How Often and With What?

11. Tip: Plan Sufficient Budget

“With a 200-euro mattress, you unfortunately cannot expect much ergonomically. A very nice and expensive mattress is also not a guarantee for lying high-quality and optimally if the corresponding ergonomic criteria are not met,” warns the expert. In the price range of 450 to 1000 euros, customers get a variety of good, ergonomically valuable mattresses. Those who want to lie healthily should plan between 450 and 700 euros for a new mattress.

More on the topic

Sleep Well 5 Criteria That Play an Important Role in Children’s Mattresses

Bedroom What Makes Box Spring Beds So Special?

Inspiration 5 Tips for a Sustainably Designed Bedroom

12. Tip: Replace the Mattress in Time

A mattress is not a lifetime purchase. Moisture and heat take their toll on it. Stiftung Warentest recommends replacing the mattress after about eight years. For example, the firmness of cold foam mattresses would decrease after this time, and hollows would form as a result. This would affect the sleep quality, especially for heavy people. In tests, hollow formation was not found in latex mattresses.

Mattress expert Braun also limits the average lifespan of a mattress to seven to eleven years: “At the latest, when complaints accumulate, the neck is tense, it is visibly uncomfortable to sleep, the system sags or is even broken, the mattress should be replaced.”