A mattress should last at least seven years. A sign that you need a new one is when it dips in the middle, it feels lumpy or there are signs of wear and tear.
Professor Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service in Edinburgh, found that people with uncomfortable beds, which can cause muscular aches and back pain, sleep on average one hour less each night.
At Warren Evans we pride ourselves on our quality mattresses. Which? magazine voted us equal-best mattress retailer, along with John Lewis, in April 2013.
Here is our guide on what each type of mattress offers and how to select one that best suits your needs.
MATTRESS TYPE
With springs
Sprung mattresses come with a variety of fillers on top to give them the comfort of a soft surface to lie on. The number of springs, thickness and guage of wire, and height alters the tension and feel or firmness of the mattress.
Individually pocket sprung (IPS)
Individual springs in their own housing allow them to operate independently. This minimises the transmission of movement between sleeping partners. IPS costs more than coil/sprung mattresses due to an increase in production costs of the individual springs.
Open coil/sprung
At Warren Evans we make sure we have superior springs – in rows, connected top and bottom – in our mattresses for better responsiveness and performance. This enables us to provide guarantees on all our mattresses.
People with uncomfortable beds, which can cause muscular aches and back pain, sleep on average one hour less each night
Fillers
These vary greatly in terms of what’s used, why they’re used and how they are packed together. At Warren Evans we use cotton as our top filler to allow a highly breathable and comfortable feel. Wool is added for a deeper feel in some mattresses. The top fillers are supported by foam and polyester, providing a strong and resilient base.
Without springs
Non–sprung options include Latex, memory foam, polyurethane, flotation beds and futons. At Warren Evans we offer our unique Memory Foam mattresses and a full range of Tempur mattresses.
Memory foam
Visco elastic or memory foam slowly responds to temperature, body weight and shape, and moulds to support each partner. They slowly recover their original shape when pressure is removed. They are typically made from layers of different thicknesses and densities of foam to give different levels of support as required, and are ideal for relieving pressure points. Our top selling Perfect Memory mattress has a dust mite-resistant, removable and washable cover.
What makes a good memory foam mattress?
It is the quality of fillers and how they are packed together. A good memory foam mattress will have at least a ten-year guarantee.
WARREN EVANS’ TOP BUYING TIPS
Get the firmness right
We find that softer mattresses suit lighter people better and firmer mattresses suit the larger customer. A good mattress should support the contours of your body closely and enable you to sleep with your spine close to its natural alignment. If you are light, a firm mattress probably won’t give you the depression into the mattress to get the full benefit. If you are heavier, if it’s too soft, it will yield too far and you could end up “sleeping in a hole”. Check out our firm or extra firm mattresses. To find out if your sprung mattress is right for you, try lying flat on the mattress, slipping your hand beneath the small of your back. If you can feel just a small gap, then you have found the perfect fit.
If you suffer from allergies
You might want to choose one of our Soil Association-certified organic mattresses. The use of all natural materials repels dust mites and, as they are also naturally fire retardant, it means that we don’t have to use any of the usual chemical treatments to provide fire safety.
Spring counts (don’t be blinded by mattress myths)
Higher spring counts are generally marketed as offering a higher quality of mattress, and better comfort and sleep. Make sure that you aren’t buying a mattress which has inferior springs, substituting quantity for quality, by only buying a mattress which comes with a long guarantee. At Warren Evans all our mattresses are designed and manufactured to achieve the perfect equilibrium between spring and filler. It is this combination and how they are put together that makes the difference, and all our sprung mattresses have a five-year guarantee, (our memory foam is guaranteed for 15 years).
For partners of different weights and sizes
IPS mattresses are an advantage over coil as they adapt to each person individually. A memory foam mattress might be a good alternative as it morphs to accommodate each individual body shape and weight.
We recommend you spend at least ten minutes lying on a mattress before deciding whether it’s the right one for you. If the bed is for two, shop together.
FRAME FACTS
A great bed has two essential ingredients – a strong, attractive frame and a supportive, comfortable mattress. At Warren Evans our frames are handcrafted in the UK. We use traditional, long-lasting mortise and tenon joints, and FSCUK (Forest Stewardship Council) sustainably sourced wood. Our slats are 3/4in thick and 5 1/2ins wide. These slats strengthen the frame and help air circulate so your mattress can breathe better. Improved breathability lets moisture dry out, so your mattress lasts longer. A drier environment also discourages dust mites, helping to alleviate allergies.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR ALL TIMES READERS
If you are buying a new mattress this winter, we would love it to be a Warren Evans mattress. Some 96 per cent of our customers agreed that a Warren Evans mattress gave them a better night’s sleep, so why not enjoy the same, with free delivery, by quoting the code TIMMAT
