Back, side, stomach? Buying the right mattress for every sleep style in Middle Tennessee
Tossing and turning restlessly throughout the night?
Waking up with backaches? Experiencing pain in the shoulders or hips?
It could be time for a new mattress.
"The mattress is that one physical piece of furniture that can directly affect our health and our lives, in every other aspect," said Nate Grindle, CEO and owner of Mattress King Nashville. As your body changes, as should your mattress. Depending on the quality and technology, most mattresses should be replaced within eight to 10 years, with some sooner or later.
"Whether the product has reached its life-cycle or our bodies have changed ... You're just not gonna be able to experience good quality sleep."
To buy online or in-store?
Between buying a mattress online vs in-store, Grindle recommends the latter.
"The success rate and the true satisfaction from consumers is a lot higher when they actually come in the store and take the time to try it. There's no true one size fits all," he said.
While a customer may think they want a firm bed, what they're truly looking for is more cushion but with firm support.
"It's such a crucial thing to our health and our well-being," he said. "It's worth investing the time to physically go in and try it vs trying to buy online."
How to select the right mattress, the right way
A customer walks into a mattress store, they lay on their back, cross their legs and put their hands on their stomach: Grindle and his colleagues jokingly call this the "coffin way" to try out a mattress. It's also the incorrect way.
He said the best way to try a mattress is to match the way you sleep.
"It's kind of like test driving a car," he said. "If you sleep on the right side of the bed, try it on the right."
Once a customer has narrowed selections to two or three beds, Grindle recommends lying down in each for about 15-30 minutes, paying close attention to the way the body feels as well as any problem areas.
Equally as important as a new bed, is the correct pillow.
If someone is a side sleeper, they'll need to fill the gap between head and shoulder to get the best spine alignment.
"Once you find that pillow that feels right, you need to take that same pillow to every bed and try it because the pillow is actually about 20% of the support and comfort of a mattress sleep system," said Grindle. "So, if you're changing from pillow A to pillow B to pillow C, you're changing variables, and it's gonna make it harder to select the right bed."
Diana Leyva covers breaking and trending news for The Tennessean. Connect with her by email at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on twitter at @_leyvadiana
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Buying the right mattress for every sleep style in Middle Tennessee
