Mattress Review

The best mattress is often a matter of personal preference

The average person spends about one-third of his or her life in bed, but surprisingly little scientific research has been performed on mattresses and how they affect health. We found only two studies dealing with this topic, one published in the journal Spine and the other in The Lancet. Based on these studies, the old advice that a firmer mattress is better for preventing back pain seems to be largely discredited. The Lancet study indicates that medium-firmness innerspring mattresses help back-pain sufferers more than hard innerspring mattresses, while the Spine study notes that a large percentage of the patients randomly assigned to sleep on a hard futon mattress (as opposed to a memory foam mattress or a waterbed) dropped out of the study because of increased pain and decreased quality of sleep.

We also read a couple of articles at SpineUniverse.com and WebMD.com that provide recommendations from doctors who specialize in spinal health. Experts tend to agree that a mattress should allow the spine to assume the same natural curve when a person is lying down as when that person is standing. A mattress that is too hard will force the spine into an unnatural position, while one that is too soft will sag and fail to provide adequate support. Experts say that the specific type and firmness level of mattress that will provide the greatest comfort varies from person to person.

Aside from these science-based recommendations, we found several sources of general information on mattresses. ConsumerReports.org is the best overall source. It includes a recent study in which staffers dismantle several mattresses to analyze their construction, as well as testing them for comfort. This site also has the results of a 2009 survey in which mattress buyers discuss their satisfaction with both the brand they purchased and the store it came from. In addition, ConsumerReports.org offers an extensive buyer's guide that discusses mattress types, construction and features, as well as tips on how to shop for a mattress. We found similar buying guides in the consumer magazines Choice and Which? -- the Australian and British counterparts, respectively, to ConsumerReports.org. While not all the brands discussed in these publications are available in the United States, most of the general information and advice they offer is applicable to U.S. consumers.

What you won't find in these consumer publications are ratings and recommendations. Editors explain that no matter how thoroughly they test mattresses, the results still can't address your own particular comfort preferences. Most credible sources agree that in order to select the best mattress for you, you will need to go into a store and test the mattresses personally, lying on them for several minutes in your typical sleep positions. As a result, this report does not make any brand-name recommendations for mattresses. Instead, we discuss the pros and cons of different mattress types and offer advice on how to make your choice. However, we did consult user reviews at Epinions.com, as well as ratings at SleepLikeTheDead.com, which analyzes thousands of user comments drawn from a wide variety of sources. These two sources are useful for evaluating which types of mattresses, as well as which specific brands, are anecdotally favored by owners.

A note about mattress pricing

The mattress prices cited in this report are typically manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) for a queen-size mattress, with or without a box spring. However, our sources indicate that this is by no means the price you should actually expect to pay. The editors of ConsumerReports.org, in particular, stress that the retail markup on mattresses is exceptionally high, and sales are frequent. It's quite common, they say, to find a mattress marked down to half its original retail price, and it's also possible to haggle for a still better deal. The editors of WhatsTheBest-Mattress.com agree, saying, "Most retailers and wholesale shops run special sales 90% of the time." Some mattress shops, they note, offer "every day low pricing," but this is still the exception rather than the rule.

Since sale prices will vary, we have listed the MSRP as our estimated price, but keep in mind that for most brands, this price is no more than a starting point. Unless you are buying from one of the rare retailers that uses everyday low pricing, you should plan to pay no more than half the original listed price for your mattress.