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Of all our furniture we spend most time on our beds. A good nights sleep is really important to how we feel and how we perform professionally as well as socially. It is the mattress which determines how comfortable the bed is rather than the underlying base. So you should spend your budget on the best quality mattress you can afford rather than going for more a more stylish headboard or bed base.
Sizes
You might be restricted by the size of your bedroom but in general bigger is better – especially if you share your bed.
There is nothing worse than a partner who invades your space making you too hot. If they are heavier than you, you will find yourself rolling towards them in the night as they create a depression in the mattress with their bulk. The larger the bed the more likely you are to have your own space that remains un-invaded.
Even if you do not share your bed the average UK male is now 175.3cm tall and weights over 13 stone. Standard beds are only 190cm long which does not leave much extra room for manoeuvre.
Mattress Sizes vary, these measurements are the most common used in the UK;
Single / Twin: 91 cm × 190 cm
Queen: 120 cm × 190 cm
Double: 140 cm × 190 cm
King: 150 cm × 200 cm
Super King: 180 cm × 200 cm
My partner is over 6 feet tall and we have a Super King at home. It’s only when we are guests in other peoples homes or visit hotels that we realise how important our big bed is to both of us getting a decent nights sleep. If you can, go for a super king mattress. You can get a reasonable quality one for around £100, so don’t think they will be really expensive just because they are bigger.
Pockets and Springs
If you can’t fit the biggest mattress size into your bedroom then you need to think about how the mattress is constructed. The cheapest mattresses are simply a series of large metal springs squeezed between some fabric. These springs tend to work together, so if one spring is compressed the others are too. This means that the surface of the mattress acts in the same way across the bed rather than providing varying levels of support where your body needs it.
A pocket sprung mattress differs in that each spring is encased in its own pouch which stops it acting like its neighbour – each spring responds to the weight on it and only it so you get varying levels of support across your body. These mattresses provide better support and a better nights sleep.
When No Mattresses are Comfy
Some people find that none of the traditional spring based mattresses are comfy for them. The very tall often develop lower back pain during the night. The elderly and those with joint problems can a find standard mattresses don’t provide the right level of support and they wake up in pain part way through the night.
Memory foam mattresses are billed as providing a solution for these people because of their ability to mould to the body, supporting all the joints properly. If you move during the night the support in the mattress re-moulds to your new position.
These mattresses used to be very expensive but more manufacturers have developed their own memory foams and this has lead to more competition and better prices. The consumer organisation Which did a review and found that the best buys were actually in the £400 range rather than the £2000 range the most established brands retail at.