What Is The Best Mattress Brand?

Some honest words from the trenches.

I’ve been asked numerous times, “What is the best mattress brand?” I can say without hesitation that the best mattress brand on the market is Tempur-Pedic. I sold all the top brands including the leading air mattresses and virtually every major brand of memory foam, latex, and innerspring mattresses.

The human body was never designed to sleep on steel springs. Too many comfort layers may cause alignment issues. Too few will cause pressure issues. There is a fine line between the two. And it is very difficult to find one good compromise that will work for both sleep partners. Air beds suffer the same body impression challenges as traditional mattresses, and with pumps, and things that may leak, there are plenty of opportunities for failure. Comfort life for even your luxury mattresses is often just 4-6 years, and their warranties often allow for as much as 1.5″ in body impressions. Yikes!

How do you know when its time to replace a mattress?

Its one of those questions that often gets asked when people learn my background. Far too often people buy a bed and continue sleeping on it well past its usable life. Like any major purchase, you really don’t want to think about it, and will often put up with poor sleep quality to avoid the trip to the mattress shop.

Even though mattresses have warranties as long as 25 years, this does NOT represent the actual expected comfort life of the mattress. It may pass the warranty test for 50 years, but if it is not comfortable, its time to change. This what I call the comfort life, and it may very well be far less than the actual life. I define comfort life as the amount of time you can comfortably sleep on the mattress – which could be as short as months, or as long as a decade. I highly doubt you can sleep comfortably on an innerspring mattress for a full decade. However, a top quality memory foam product may allow you to sleep comfortably for more than a decade.

How To Test Beds Properly

If you are truly wanting the very best mattress for your body, go with an open mind and try all types of mattresses: air, foam, and innerspring. For the purposes of this post, I am going to focus on innerspring, but much of this will apply to other types of mattresses. For innerspring mattresses, generally speaking, stomach and back sleepers need to be on firm to plush mattresses. Side sleepers will usually end up between plush to pillow top.

Pillow Top Mattresses – I define a pillow top as having two seams. They are generally the softest mattresses, allowing the most conformance. These are also the silliest of the three types, since you can achieve the exact feel with only one seam on a plush with identical comfort layers. Pillow tops sound sexy, and can usually justify a higher price. If you sleep on your side, or simply like a softer feel, you will probably end up on a pillow top.

I have mentioned in the past that the number one objection I hear from consumers about Tempur-Pedic specifically, and memory foam mattresses in general, is that they sleep hot. When allowed to dig, I usually find that the one making these claims has never really slept on a quality memory foam product, or had some bad experience with a topper, pillow, or some really cheap knock-off. Its almost comical how this myth continues.

1. I’m a big guy, comfortably over 300 lbs., and more hot natured than any menopausal woman on the planet. I could perspire in below freezing weather – and have, throughout my life. I have slept on the Tempur-Pedic Cloud Supreme for almost 3 years now and sleep cooler than any other mattress I have ever had.

Can You Really Sleep Anywhere?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say they can sleep anywhere, I would be insanely wealthy. Yes, you probably could sleep on any mattress if you absolutely had too. When the body is tired, it will do whatever necessary to get some rest, even if that means sleeping on a concrete floor. However, the body will not get the deep recuperative sleep it needs if it is constantly adjusting, developing numbness in the arm, or simply just restless from pressure and alignment issues.

A Good Mattress Improves Your Appearance And Health

Sleep, along with water, food, and exercise, is an essential part of good health. Scientists are just beginning to figure out all the ways that quality sleep improves your life. The reality is that if you are tossing and turning because of a mattress that is too hard, or adjusting throughout the night because your body is incorrectly aligned on your mattress, you are not getting good sleep.

Good Sleep Is Essential For A Healthy And Beautiful Body.

I’ve noted in my own life how much better I feel, and look, when I get a full night of uninterrupted sleep. If you are well rested, you feel better inside – mentally, emotionally, physically, and that inner peace only improves how others see, and react to you.

Its the million dollar question – when do I replace my mattress?

Let me start by giving you a simple analogy. If your car stops running, or is breaking down often, would you not strongly consider replacing it? Especially if fixing it was not possible, or it was cost prohibitive, right? If you can’t depend on your vehicle, and you’re spending more on tow trucks, repairs, rental cars, and missing meetings and work that costs you money, its time to replace the vehicle.

Now let’s look at your mattress. If you are waking up sore, spending dollars on doctors and chiropractors, sleeping better on the road or vacation, its probably time to change. But here are some other things to consider.

Shopping For A Mattress Is As Easy As CAPS.

C is for Comfort. This may seem almost elementary, but you would be amazed at how many times people will purchase a bed primarily because of price or even brand. They slept on that S-brand mattress for 20 years, and so they want the same thing. The only problem is that mattress no longer exists. Try out the mattress lying on your back, side and natural sleeping position for at least 5 minutes before you make a decision. If you have a special pillow that you cannot sleep without, take it with you to the store. Make sure the new mattress and the pillow work together providing optimal comfort for you.

Blitzkrieg PT

1200 individually wrapped coils
13 Gauge Steel
3″ Visco
2″ Latex
4″ Really Soft Super Foam

If you saw these specs on a mattress, would you know if it was the right mattress for you? Probably not. You must lie down on the mattress for ten or fifteen minutes to begin to evaluate the support and comfort of any mattress. Always try a mattress on your back, then on your side and finally in your natural sleeping position. At each position, check your spinal alignment. Any bowing of the spine should be a red flag. On your side, if you feel any pain or pressure in your hips, it is too hard.

A few folks have written wondering how to know when its time to change your mattress. So here are a few things to consider.

1. Crater Lake – If there is a giant hole in your mattress or two valleys on either side of a ridge in the middle, it may be time to change. Innerspring mattresses are notorious for developing body impressions where you sleep. If it is still under warranty (1.5″ for most manufacturers/10 years) measure from the natural mattress surface into the deepest valley. If it is greater than 1.5″ and still under warranty, file a claim. This may get you a new mattress set for very minimal cost.

What I love the most about the big Summer holiday sales season is the people that swear that the grass is greaner at the last mattress shop.

I was at a store during Memorial Day weekend and heard variations of this theme numerous times. Sometimes it was simply confusion. There are thousands of mattresses on the market and product confusion is rampant among consumers who only shop once every decade. Bad information from the previous mattress salesperson, that does not know their product, was another culprit.