Your mattress is one of the most important pieces of furniture you own and can significantly affect your health. Even though we spend at least 1/4 of your life in our beds and we often spend less money on our beds than we do on a couch or a table. In addition we will own beds for at least 10 years. A bad mattress can cause stiffness, back pain or just lack of sleep. Lack of good sleep can make you more moody, feel more stressed and prevent you from concentrating. You can change all that by buying a good mattress, but how do you choose a good mattress?

Mattress Options

There are four types of mattresses: spring, foam, air and water. Most people have spring mattresses, but there is a rising trend to get memory foam mattresses.

Foam mattresses are becoming increasingly popular. In particular, memory foam mattresses, seem to provide better support for you back without causing pressure points, that can cause you pain or cut off circulation. The memory foam mattress will take the shape of your body and thus distribute the weight of your body evenly over your whole body. Foam mattresses have layers of different types of foam. The top layer of the mattress is usually a soft memory foam, while layers further down are stiffer for support. The top brand is Tempur-Pedic - a Swedish brand.

Most mattresses sold today are spring mattresses - they are comfortable and reliable. The top brand names for spring mattresses are Sealy , Serta and Simmons . Since spring mattresses have been around for a long time, you will find very good quality mattresses for a good price.

Air mattresses are very popular for temporary usage, like house guests and camping, but most air mattresses are not designed for daily sleeping. There are a few companies that are offering more sophisticated air mattresses, with adjustable stiffness on each side of the mattress, but they are still a small fraction of the business.

Water mattresses are relatively unpopular, because of they are very difficult to deal with one they are in your home. Many homes are also not designed to take the weight in one place. If you are considering a water mattress, you should make sure you can install it in your home without causing a problem.

Firm vs. Soft Mattresses

It has always been considered that a firmer mattress is better than a softer one. This is not necessarily true. You need to find a matters that is soft enough not to cause pressure points that will make you sore the next day, but still enough that they will hold your spine in proper alignment, so that your muscles aren't working all night to compensate for the mattress.

A good combination can be a slightly stiffer bed, with a a soft pillow-top (a soft layer on top your your mattress). Though most good mattresses will include a pillow-top, you can also them later. You can even buy a layer of memory foam as your pillow-top and put that on top of your mattress. This will not be as good as a memory foam mattress, but starts giving you some of the benefits.

In the end, the best thing is to try the mattresses out yourself and buy the one that is most comfortable for your price range. You are the best judge of comfort for yourself, but make sure you give yourself the time to lie on the mattresses for a while.

Box springs

You do not need to have a box spring for your mattress, but for a spring mattress, it will extend the life of your mattress significantly (up to 50%). If you buy a spring mattress, you will find most manufacturers require you to have a box spring to keep your warranty valid. If you are paying extra to have a 10 year or 20 year warranty, you should be definitely use your box spring. This is because they know that it will last past the warranty with the box spring.

Memory foam mattresses do not require box springs and will function better without them. Some high end bed frames also provide the right support so that you don't need the box spring. Those beds usually have wooden slats across the entire surface of the bed. You will still want to check with the mattress manufacturer to make sure they will honor your warranty.