Find Right Mattress, Rest Easy

Mattress design has changed more in the past decade than in the previous half-century--all with the idea of providing a better night’s sleep.

Inner-spring mattresses have gotten thicker, plusher and more luxurious and may include cushy pillow tops and individualized sleep areas. Water beds have become sophisticated.

In a typical night, a healthy sleeper will shift position as many as 50 times and might turn over all the way another 10, which wears out the mattress.

“It’s sort of like the shock absorbers on your car,� said Elaine Deaver, vice president of consumer and marketing services for Simmons Co. in Atlanta. “The coils go through a gradual weakening process.�

Changes in lifestyle--acquiring a bed partner or a back injury--also can mean you need a new mattress. It’s not hard to know when it’s time for a change.

“Generally your back tells you before your eyes do,� said Ed Scott, vice president of marketing for Serta Inc., in Des Plaines, Ill.

The Better Sleep Council, a bedding industry trade group in Alexandria, Va., suggests a periodic “bed check,� especially if your mattress is more than 10 years old.

Take the pad off and run your hand along the mattress, bearing down hard, to feel for lumps or misaligned springs. Bounce up and down while listening for creaks, groans or pings, signs the springs are wearing against one another. Lie down on the mattress--with your bed partner if you have one--and analyze how comfortable you feel.

“There probably have been more innovations in mattress design in the last 10 years than there were in the previous 50,� Scott said. “At every point you’re getting more mattress for your money.�

The most popular type of mattress is the inner-spring, a bouncy core of tempered steel coils wrapped in layers of cushioning. And any good mattress will provide at least an adequate number of coils--312 is a minimum. They range from $400 to $1,200.

Top-of-the-line models, $800 and $1,200, include features such as “comfort zones� at the center for extra support. The top cushioning layer may be filled with luxurious materials such as wool, down or silk. Even box springs may have special features such as a posture grid that puts extra coils in the center third of the foundation.

Some have a feather-bed-like layer of filling called a “pillow top,� sometimes zippered so they can be changed with the weather--goose down for summer, wool for winter.

The downside is that the new super-thick mattresses--as high as 14 inches--may not fit your old bed linens and could look awkwardly high on your old bed frames.

The “flotation mattress� or soft-sided water bed, which falls into the same price range as the inner-spring, also is making waves. The new beds look like conventional inner-springs and can be used with standard bed frames and linens. Instead of coils, a flotation bed is filled with columns of water covered with cushy padding. You can control the softness or firmness by the amount of water you put in, customize the two sides of the bed and, in some models, regulate temperature.

“Don’t get hung up on the features of an individual bed, just find one that feels good,� Scott said. “In the end, that’s what’s going to matter most.�