Last few days I was waking up tired and sore, I was sure that its time to replace my mattress after all I know I will be spending 1/3rd of my life sleeping !. So my quest began with the most simple Google search on “What is the Best Mattress to Buy?”

The answers on What is the Best Mattress to Buy – What is the Secret Ingredient? were numerous everyone giving me extra deep knowledge on  mattress which is good for all but not for me.

So since I have already spent lot of time in researching so that I can buy a good mattress and have a calm & nice sleep, I thought of putting it in simplest possible manner for all of you too 🙂

Which is Best Places to Buy a Mattress – Online or Departmental or Specialty Stores?

It has been a long time when I bought my old mattress, so when I began looking for new one, I realized that department and specialty stores are no longer the destinations for mattress shopping. 

Now a days high quality mattresses at reasonable prices are available at warehouse clubs OR online retailers like Amazon, Walmart etc.

Also looking at the current Covid19 situation I feel its better to order online after doing proper homework on type and brand of mattress.

What is the Best Mattress to Buy?

Now that I have decided to buy a new mattress, I will share the factors that I studied and considered for best mattress selection –

1. Can a mattress last 20 years?

2. Which type of mattress is best for me?

   2.1) Memory Foam Mattress
   2.2) Latex Mattress
   2.3) Innerspring or Coil Mattress
   2.4) Pillow-top Mattress
   2.5) Hybrid Mattress
   2.6) Adjustable Mattress

3. How much should I pay for a mattress?

   3.1) My indicative mattress budget

4. Is it better to sleep on a hard or soft mattress? (Firmness)

   4.1) Mattress Firmness Scale table
   4.2) How to Choose Mattress Firmness?
   4.2.1) Sleeping position vs mattress selection
   4.2.2) Your weight matters in mattress selection

5. Mattress selection guidelines by Body weight & feel factor

   5.1) My Weight is 150 pounds or less, I am a light sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)
   5.2) My Weight is 150 pounds or less, I am a lighter sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)
   5.3) My Weight is 150-200 pounds, I am a average sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)
   5.4) My Weight is 150-200 pounds, I am a average sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)
   5.5) My Weight is (140 pounds or less) or average (150-200 pounds), I am a lighter sleeper and want a firmer mattress (8-9)
   5.6) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)
   5.7) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)
   5.8) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a firmer feel (8-9)

6. Final words on Choosing a Mattress

7. Mattress FAQ
   1) Are more Coils in the mattress provides better comfort?
   2) Does Gel in mattress Provides a Cooler Sleep?
   3) Do I need to flip the mattress every 6 months?

8. Few Shopping Tips – Do’s and Don’ts

1) Can a mattress last 20 years?

Well it’s quite possible that a mattress can last 20 years, however if you are waking up tired and sore due to wear and tear or permanent shape change, then its simple – its time to change your mattress.

In-general any mattresses will last long as long as you are taking proper care, however depending upon the type, material and use frequency, most of them will be good for actual use for about 8 to 10 years.

Again if you are getting a good sleep quality, you need not buy a new mattress 🙂

Here is a simple table showing types and expected life cycle for a mattress –

2) Which type of mattress is best for me?

Sleep quality is closely related to the comfort that you will get from the mattress you use hence it is important to select suitable type suiting to your person preferences.

Since there are many varieties of mattress types available in market, it becomes tough to select appropriate one to suit your taste.

So in general I am giving you simple summary of mattress types and their salient features which will help you choose type of mattress which is best for you.

Also immediately after each type I have given link for best sellers as on July 2020 which are having good customer reviews and ratings.

2.1) Memory Foam Mattress

Memory foam mattresses are known for their great support, pressure relief, and body contouring.

Memory foam mattresses are recommended specially  for those people who want great hug, body shaping, contour, pressure relief, and support.

Ages before when the memory foam mattresses were introduced they faced an issue of “sleeping hot”, however with technological advancements memory foams now have superior cooling properties compared to traditional memory foams.

Recent trend is to go for hybrid or latex mattresses offer more pronounced hug compared to pure memory foam mattresses.

Memory Foam Mattress example – Ashley Furniture Signature Design – 12 Inch Chime Express Memory Foam Mattress

2.2) Latex Mattress

As Latex have its natural properties of cooling, the same exclusive benefit you get into latex mattresses, along with comfort too.

Naturally Latex has great responsiveness, comfort, bounce, and cooling.

So specially kids who love to bounce prefer something made from latex, which along with bounce will also provide responsiveness and cooling.

Also some people do not like the contour hug that comes from memory foam mattresses prefer this type of latex bounce.

Latex Mattress Example – LUCID 12-Inch Latex Hybrid Mattress – King

2.3) Innerspring or Coil Mattress

The Innerspring or Coil are the most popular mattress due to its traditional feel, great bounce, cooling, and strong edge support.

The mattress contains one or more layers of coil innersprings encased in separate pockets that moves independently providing precise body contour, support and comfort.

Independent coil movement reduces the sensation of movement on a bed providing contouring comfort and support for an undisturbed night sleep.

Also with latest technological advancement, the number of coils, types, and layers of coils are determined to provide greater comfort and body support.

Innerspring or Coil Mattress Example – Linenspa 6-Inch Innerspring Mattress

2.4) Pillow-top Mattress

Pillow-top Mattress are the latest craze offering cloud-like sleeping experiences, hotel-style beds & the ultimate in decadence.

Pillow-top mattresses sits over top of base category like coil, latex, memory, hybrid, etc. with a layer of soft material either stuffed or sewn into the cover working as extra comfort & cushioning.

As said now a days people love comfort that they get into luxury hotels with softer and extra thick cushion comfort. So for those who really enjoy cloud-like type of support and comfort then pillow tops are meant only for you!

Pillow-top Mattress Example – ViscoSoft 4 Inch Pillow Top Memory Foam Mattress

2.5) Hybrid Mattress

As the name suggest a hybrid mattress is combination of foam + coil layers.

A row of coil springs mixed with tiers of foam and/or latex makes a typical hybrid mattress.

This construction delivers fine combination of comfort with pressure relief of latex and memory foam with the support and cooler sleeping temperatures of innerspring mattresses.

As an example, a latex + memory foam hybrid = Great bounce, cooling, and responsiveness via the latex, with added advantages of great pressure relief and support from the memory foam.

Buying a hybrid mattress means you get best of all worlds. Great bounce, support, comfort, and cooling.

Hybrid Mattress  Example – Linenspa 8 Inch Memory Foam and Innerspring Hybrid Mattress

2.6) Adjustable Mattress

Actually its not adjustable mattress, but its adjustable beds which offers change the sleeping position of the mattress, usually by elevating the feet and inclining the back.

Some advanced variations of adjustable beds provides ability to vibrate, heat, and/or massage the sleeper.

Generally these types are preferred or recommended for certain medical conditions, older sleepers, snorers, chronic lower back pain etc.

Adjustable Mattress  Example – LUCID L300 Adjustable Bed with 10 Inch Memory Foam Hybrid Mattress

3. How much should I pay for a mattress?

Cheapest mattresses are available as low as $150 and the price incrementally goes till $1500.

You can also get premium mattresses which can cost as high as $5000 to $8000

However you can get good value for money proposition along with good quality for around $1000 price range.

With intense competition and online selling option where store maintenance prices are practically zero, you can get high quality mattresses at fair and reasonable prices, so with a modest budget you will surely get a great bed.

In this industry, more money does not always mean a better mattress. Retail store mattress pricing is dramatically inflated, often times with markups that range from 300-1,000%.

3.1) My indicative mattress budget

Best target $1,000 budget mattress

Overall I found that at budget of around $1000 you can get high quality luxury mattress on online stores with plenty of options to choose from.

If you safely assume that your mattress can last for 10 years, then spending $1000 works out to $0.27 per day which in tern is going to provide you a sleep worth million dollars 🙂 And you are going to spend 1/3rd of your life sleeping!!

Mattress budget up to $1,500

This additional $500 to the baseline budget will take you to King / Cal King with numerous choices in the higher end market place.

Simply NO below $500 mattress

I will suggest not to waste money on ultra cheap mattresses which are priced below $500.

I know that price does not precisely indicator of quality of product, however considering raw material rates in 2020, anything below $500 will make the company compromise on quality, durability, and higher toxicity in a mattress.

4. Is it better to sleep on a hard or soft mattress? (Firmness)

Firmness of your mattress is the most subjective issue defined by your body type, weight, size, and feel factor.

A mattress which is felt hard by you, may be soft for another person say who is heavy in weight.

Overall they can be rated in simple manner as shown in below table – Green zone indicates most preferred range of mattresses.

4.1 Mattress Firmness Scale table

4.2) How to Choose Mattress Firmness?

After looking at the mattress firmness scale and what scale is most commonly preferred, next question to my mind is which one is best for me and why?

Obviously choice is governed by important factors such as your sleep position, support needs, weight, and body type

4.2.1) Sleeping position vs mattress firmness selection

Sleeping position is the most important factor that will determine you mattress firmness.

You may be preferring one of the Side, back, stomach positions or a little bit of each! Sometimes its very difficult to define!!

Each sleeping position will have its own specific needs and ideal firmness level.

Side sleepers

Side sleepers generally need a mattress which is having soft to medium level firmness, you can say ranging from 3-6 scale.

A soft mattress with good neck & back support is ideal for side sleepers.

Side sleepers need a mattress which is soft enough to match their body contour which will avoid any lower back pain, neck pain, and/or shoulder pain.

Also side sleepers are habitual to change the sleep position many times in night. This constant change in position side sleepers need soft to medium level firm mattress.

Back Sleepers

For back sleepers you need firmness and support both.

Too soft mattress will provide inadequate support to the back creating pressure points due to lack of support.

Such poor support can disturb spinal alignment leading yo back pain

Hence for back sleepers the mattress shall provide sufficient softness to eliminate pressure points, but still provide great support. So generally a firmness level in the 4-7 range is appropriate for back sleepers.

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleepers need a mattress which provides equal distribution of force and hence equal support to their body.

Too soft mattress for stomach sleepers can cause a curving of the spine, causing lower back pain and other problems.

So the mattress firmness shall be such that stomach sleepers shall be able to sleep as flat as possible, which means good distribution of load and pressure. Hence stomach sleepers are happy with mattress in 5-7 range with some outliers requiring a slightly hard or softer feel (a 4 or 8, respectively).

4.2.2) Your weight matters in mattress firmness selection

Your weight and body type which need to be supported by the mattress, determines type of mattress you choose.

Weight plays an important role since it causes sinkage, hug, feel, cooling.

Obviously the support that each mattress provides is a reaction to your weight and body type (distribution of weight over area) .. so the mattress firmness will decide how it will balance your body weight.

Proper selection of mattress firmness will ensure correct results providing resilience (opposite force to your body).

Of course I know that there is no perfect or ideal mattress which can create an ideal feel for each  body type, however careful selection of firmness will ensure best results resulting into sound sleep.

My internet research has resulted into nice guidelines which will help you selecting right mattress to suit your body type and weight —

5) Mattress selection guidelines by Body weight & feel factor

5.1) My Weight is 150 pounds or less, I am a light sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)

Well you are lucky will not sink into the foam mattresses even for soft grade, remember more sinking means more heat retention issue.

So mattresses which are soft, plush, plush soft, or in the 3-4 out of 10 range will provide you high level of cloud level comfort.

5.2) My Weight is 150 pounds or less, I am a lighter sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)

When someone like you with so light weight wants medium feel rather than soft feel, simply going for denser top layer mattress will not be an option, but you need to go for Universal comfort mattress option.

Now since most of the medium firmness mattress are generally based on average weight of 180 pounds, and your weight is around 150 pounds, it is required that you select mattress which has firmness by 0.5 to 1 point down than what you need. This will ensure proper medium level feel for you.

5.3) My Weight is 150-200 pounds, I am a average sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)

Since your weight slot is slightly above the light sleepers, you need to see if your weight is near to 150 or moving near to 200 (or you are going to gain some weight in near future)

So if you feel you are near to 200 pounds and wish to get soft feel and increased hug / sinkage of the mattress you can go for say 4 point scale instead of 3

For side sleepers still scale of 3 may be ideal, but if you are back sleeper or stomach sleeper, then may be moving to scale of 4 will help avoiding any negative situation for the support and resulting back pain.

5.4) My Weight is 150-200 pounds, I am a average sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)

This is a range where you will get plenty of options in market. In fact most of the mattresses in market presently are designed for average size sleepers.

So feel free to select anything in the universal comfort range or any mattress characterized as medium, medium firm, luxury firm.

In terms of rating, select scale 5-7 out of 10 which will be best sweet spot for you.

5.5) My Weight is (140 pounds or less) or average (150-200 pounds), I am a lighter sleeper and want a firmer mattress (8-9)

Since you want to get firm feel, the weight range these mattresses can handle ranges more i.e. from 140-200 pounds, a fine difference of 10 pounds will not matter much.

So here its not matter of fine tuning of hug or cooling or contour but broadly supporting body weight without much hug.

A firmer mattress will not hug your body, but rather floats sleepers on the surface of the mattress.

For lighter and average sleepers like you, where you want a firm feel, simply look for mattresses characterized as firm or in the scale of 8-9 out of 10.

5.6) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a soft feel (3-4)

Now here is a real challenge!

By its nature the soft mattress will sink dramatically for a heavy sleeper with 200 pounds of weight, it will create excessive hug too, which will in tern generate heat issues.

Hence the design challenge is to get soft feel still a support after controlled compression.

May be this duel fold requirement can be fulfilled by using a minimum of 4″ of comfort foam, which forces you to go for mattresses having basic thickness of 12″ or more.

Alternatively you can try the pillow-top coil mattress which will provide a soft feel still providing deep compression support required for deep and sound sleep.

5.7) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a medium feel (5-7)

Again here also even though you need medium feel, to support your weight, ensure that your selected mattress have comfort layer of at least 4″.

Comfort layer will support the pressure that you create on mattress and provide consistent body support.

For those who are looking at good edge support, go for luxury innerspring OR coil-on-coil mattresses.

Or someone may like more foam where you canl get better contouring hug and body shaping.

5.8) My Weight is 200 pounds or more, I am a heavier sleeper and want a firmer feel (8-9)

Someone like you weighing 200 pounds or more can look for firmness in the scale of 8 out of 10 or even 9 out of 10 range.

Anyway beyond 9 means like sleeping on the floor, so why to spend on a mattress 😛

So overall if you are totally confused …. here are General foolproof guidelines ….

If you are unsure about selection, best is to go for common range which is 6 out of 10.

In this range you will get great choices since its the most common mattress firmness available in market.

As per research, 80% of sleepers prefer a mattress in the 5-7 out of 10 range.

You may think that going for soft mattresses will definitely be your choice due to imaginary comfort that you feel, however you must note that soft mattresses are the most returned mattress across the industry.

And finally mattresses in the 3-3.5 range are best for side sleepers.

The Best Mattresses for Heavy People

• My Choice – Helix Plus

• Best Value Memory Foam Mattress – Nectar

• Best Hybrid Mattress – WinkBed Plus

• Best Cooling Mattress – Titan

• Best Firm Mattress – Plank

• Best Luxury Mattress – Saatva HD

Final words on Choosing a Mattress

Just to remind you again, when you are going to spend One third of your life sleeping on this earth! Mattress selection is paramount task of life 🙂 Give due thought before selecting the mattress for you.

As a general rule, you can start for looking for your mattress replacement after 8-9 years.

You may feel that the mattress condition is well and you don’t need to replace, however remember that over the years, you might have spillage, dust accumulation and what not inside the 12″ thick mattress! so better to replace in time.

Also when you think on mattress type, mostly its a foam or coils.

Where the foam will provide great hug, contour, and a unique feel Vs Coil gives traditional feel with great bounce.

Ideally target your budget to around $800-$1,000 to get more quality options.

On the firmness scale, most of the customers in market narrow down to scale of 5-7 out of 10.

As a thumb rule – Side sleepers will like firmness of 3-6 out of 10, stomach or back sleepers prefer firmness of 5-7.

Mattress FAQ