Sleep problems or sleep deprivation are detrimental to physical and mental health. It is usually under-recognized as a major health problem. Did you know that sleeping less than 6 hours a night increases mortality risk. Poor sleep leads to a 48% increase in cardiovascular disease, a 23% increase in hypertension, a 15% increase in strokes, and a 9% increase in type 2 diabetes.

According to Caggiari (2021) “A meta-analysis on sleep quality showed that 15-30% of adults report sleep disorders, such as sleep onset latency (SOL), insufficient duration of sleep and frequently waking up at night.”

“Sleep physically washes toxins, including those that can lead to Alzheimer's, from your brain” (Laura Lewis, Boston University published in the journal Science)If sleep is that important, why do we still experience bad sleep, how can I improve the quality of sleep and where should I begin?

It is! But I am not asking you to change everything overnight. I am asking you to change gradually and we can start by examining the thing you sleep on nearly every night; that’s your mattress. The average person spends around a third of their lifetime sleeping or attempting to do so (Aminoff, Boller & Swaab 2011). In 2020, the world bank estimated that the average American lifespan is 77.28 years. That’s around 26 years of your lifetime sleeping and most of that time you will probably be sleeping on a mattress. However, there is more to a mattress than meets the eye.

A mattress is the combined product of experience and understanding of the manufacturer. It is their take on comfort for the sleeper. However, comfort is highly subjective and varies from sleeper to sleeper. There are multiple products out there with different designs and materials, but what you need to remind yourself is do these materials provide you with the comfort that you need? It was never about getting an expensive product with all the modern bells and whistles our tech companies can give us. It’s about finding a mattress that fits – a mattress that fits you. Before we go on to buy a mattress let’s have a look at the various factors that could influence how comfortable your body feels on a mattress.

"Nobody has a neutral spine alignment...methods that claim to diagnose misalignment have been debunked as anti-scientific quackery."

-Dr. Craig Liebenson

Your mattress can influence your spinal curvature, although the notion that misalignment of the spinal curves can lead to musculoskeletal problems is highly controversial. Nobody has a neutral spine alignment and most methods that claim to diagnose misalignments have been debunked as anti-scientific quackery.

Mattress biomechanics research has investigated the development of new designs, methods of spine alignment evaluation, and evaluation of different designs. Many mattress designs are customizable, thus permitting active control of biomechanical features for different body weights and postures.

Unfortunately, there is much we still don’t know about ideal spine alignment and body pressure distribution during sleep. A goal for future research is better research methods for mattress evaluation and development.

Ask yourself…Is it comfortable?

Then start looking into the different variables that mattress companies take into consideration to maximize comfort and support. For example, sleep position, materials, design, body weight, and more. Understanding how the sum of these factors can contribute to a mattress model will guide you to make an informed decision on finding one that fits.

This is more specific to people that do not sleep alone and are usually either with their children, partners, or pets. It also applies to toss and turn sleepers as well.

• Motion transfer refers to when a movement on the mattress creates a disturbance or wave of motion that can alert or be felt by the sleeper.
• Motion Isolation is a feature of the mattress where there is low motion transfer.

Usually, people that consider motion isolating mattresses tend to be affected by movement during sleep. Sleepers with partners could be woken up if someone leaves the bed or tends to move around at night. If you are a toss and turn type with light sleeping habits your own movement could wake you up unknowingly. Therefore, motion transfer is something to consider before purchasing a mattress.

The effect of different temperatures of mattresses on sleep quality and musculoskeletal pain has been investigated. However, data is inconclusive regarding what mattress temperature is ideal. Some researchers have suggested that a mattress that is warmer is better.

It is also noted that a good mattress should be breathable to avoiding over-heating.

Novel research showed low-thermal-capacity mattresses (LHCM) and high-thermal-capacity mattresses (HHCM) significant influenced core body temperature (CBT), proximal skin temperature on the back (PROBA) and mattress surface temperature. There was a statistically significant association between increased CBT-PROBA (and reduced PROBA) with an increased N3 sleep phase. This highlighted a powerful area for future mattress research highlighting that sleep characteristics can be influenced by thermal properties of the mattress.

Materials such as latex have a cool sleep experience, but the poor motion isolation, price-tag for natural latex and odor that the material produces may become a disturbance.

Although there is no perfect answer to which mattress design or material is superior for quality sleep, each mattress manufacturer uses a different combination of these variables to reach the end goal of comfort and support.

For the person buying the mattress, you should be asking whether this design or whether this material fits my sleep position and am I going to be disturbed by movement or temperature. If you already have an answer, I believe you already get a gist of how to choose an ideal mattress that fits you.