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Thinking of Replacing Your Mattress and Beds
If you need to replace your mattress and beds, you may have already discovered just how complicated the mattress industry has become. What was once a simple choice between “blue” or “green” has now become a decision that is based on material, construction, brand, warranty, and longevity?
Today, choosing a mattress is almost as complicated as purchasing a house or a car. And while the wide variety of options is supposed to help everyone get exactly what they want, you now have to ask yourself a few very important questions:
What DO you want? How much of what you want is actually beneficial for you while you sleep? How aware are you of chemicals and their dangers? What is the difference between comfort and support? What are the best materials for a mattress? How do you avoid mattress buyer’s remorse?
These are just a few of the questions spinning through the heads of consumers that are searching for new beds and mattresses. This buying guide will explore the answers to these questions so that you can better decide which mattress is right for you.
Support vs. Comfort
When searching for new mattresses and beds, most consumers confuse support and comfort. Make no mistake about it; support and comfort are rather different. Comfort is what you feel when you lay on the bed.
A lack of comfort can make it very difficult to fall asleep at night, which can further diminish the number of sleeping hours. A lack of comfort can also cause wakefulness at night, further depleting your hours of beneficial sleep.
Support, transversely, is what you feel in the morning. If you wake up with aches and pains, then your mattress isn’t offering the right kind of support. Moreover, a mattress that is comfortable may or may not have good support and a mattress with good support might not be comfortable. You have to find the balance between these two so that you can get the sleep you need.
The Hidden Dangers of Mattress and Beds
If you haven’t spent much time researching the chemicals that come into your home through things like paint, carpet, mattresses and more, you might be surprised to learn just how dangerous mattresses and beds can be.
While all things are composed of chemical compounds, there are some chemicals that are not healthy for the human body. As a result, people experience allergies, asthma, rashes, and even more long-term, life-threatening complications, like cancer, when they experience prolonged exposure to certain chemicals.
Sadly, many of these dangerous chemicals can be found in mattresses and beds. Some are worse than others. One of the biggest offenders is the foam mattress. While this isn’t true for all foam mattress models, it is true for the majority of foam mattress brands and models.
Many consumers, when they first bring their foam mattress home, are surprised at the strong odor that their foam mattress gives off. This is the scent of chemicals. And while the smell does dissipate with time, the chemicals are still present for the life of the mattress.
Finding Chemical Free Mattress and Beds
Some companies go the extra lengths to provide you with a natural mattress that contains little to no harmful chemicals. This is also true for consumers that want a natural foam mattress. Search these companies out and take the time to research the company.
Not all companies are honest, and some stake claims that they offer a natural mattress to consumers when, in fact, they only place organic material on top of materials that contain harmful chemicals.
When researching a company to determine if they offer natural mattresses and beds or natural foam mattress options, look for terms like “Certified Organic” and “third-party testing.”
When you see third-party testing or the label certified organic, it means that the company has had their product tested by a third-party organization that has nothing to win or lose in the selling of that mattress. Because of this, you can take comfort in knowing that, by purchasing beds and mattresses from this company, your exposure to harmful chemicals will be greatly reduced.
