Mattress Madness: How to Find the Right Mattress

Finding the right mattress isn't simply a matter of a good night's sleep, it's a matter of your sanity and your health. Humans, as a rule need to sleep. Without it, we don't work properly. Thinking becomes fuzzy, judgment is clouded and motor skills run on the clumsy side. Living takes work and we need a night's rest to get our bodies rejuvenated and geared for the new day. Unfortunately, buying a new mattress is no simple task. You walk into any mattress store and you'll realize that there are more types of mattresses than there are flavors of ice cream. And while all of them may look basically the same, each one, with its hyper descriptive and sometimes clinical sounding name, seems to offer something that another mattress doesn't. It can get very confusing. All you want is a good night's sleep and all these mattresses make it seem like you can't do that without some sort of special coil or foam or pressure point, etc.

So how do you wade through all the hype and find the mattress that really fits your style? There are a number of things to consider. First of all, think about how much you want to spend. While you shouldn't be cheap when it comes to buying something that you will spend 1/3 of your life in, you don't have to spend a king's fortune either. In fact, you should know that most mattress stores will bargain with you. You can usually find sales too.

Next, keep in mind that the best mattress for you is what you think is comfortable. Even if your intrepid mattress salesman is pitching you an ultra deluxe model that forms itself to your body shape or that offers special massaging fibers, chances are it's not going to give you much satisfaction if you're not comfortable in it.

Mattresses are a commodity and so the business runs on marketing. Just because a mattress has an exotic name and is made out of organic materials does not mean it's the best around.

The most popular and widely bought mattresses consist of innerspring types made by Sealy, Serta and Simmons. Innerspring means that the mattress is supported by a series of interlinking coils or springs. When you run into ten different mattresses that all are made with innerspring coils, you may find yourself confused. They all seem basically the same, but they all have different names and price tags. The thing is, they are for the most part the same. Mattress companies actually come up with different names for the same product for different retail stores. So you've got the same mattress at store A as in store B, the only difference is the name. The variations are pretty basic and subtle. There really isn't a huge difference, so don't get overwhelmed by your choices.

Also, note that many mattress makers get their coils and parts from the same manufacturers, so despite the huge variety and all those fancy names, most mattresses are made of the same parts.

When it comes to things like coil count and wire gauges, don't let the numbers fool you either. Usually the difference there isn't that grand either. Each company uses different configurations, so any standard can be misleading.

The upshot is, don't be fooled by names and brands. Go for what's comfortable. Try out different mattresses and pick the one that you like, not because it's Swedish or because it's made out of organic cotton from Egypt. In fact, you probably don't need all the extras either. If you can't tell the difference between a mattress that costs $300 and one that costs $1500, go for the cheaper one, unless you like to spend money.