Complete Mattress Buying Guide 2024: How to Choose the Perfect Mattress?

Mattresses are one of the biggest investment of our life given it is something we sleep on every single day. Buying a good quality mattress promises you sound sleep, proper spine alignment, body support, and relief from back pain and neck pain. While selecting a poor-quality mattress can invite some serious health problems. So, here is your easy, step-by-step mattress-buying guide to help you choose the best mattress for yourself.

The first deciding factor in any mattress buying guide is to first check the size of your bed. Simply take a measuring tape and stretch it in a straight line across your length and then on breadth. Match the values you get with the following bed size measurement table (India):

Note: The numbers mentioned above are approx estimates. Your mattress size may also differ from brand to brand so be sure to check the brand size measurements while buying a mattress online.

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Note: These are only rough estimates. A general rule of thumb is the heavier you are, the more firm (but supportive) mattress you may need.

Also, the body weight estimates mentioned are as per the natural feel and construction of the particular foam. If you are buying a multi-layered foam mattress, the values may change.

For example, if you are a heavy-weight individual with more than 80 kg body weight, you can still use a memory foam mattress until and unless it has other firm layers of foam to support such as bonded foam or HR foam. Ideally, for overweight or obese people, a memory foam of 1 inch does the work of providing just enough amount of cushioning.

Important Tip: If you are purchasing a mattress online, be sure to check the body weight capacity, usually shared in product details.

Note: When buying a mattress offline, be sure to check the firmness level of your mattress by pressing the palm of your hand against the mattress.

But, how do you check the firmness level of a mattress online? Most brands include details on the firmness level of their mattress, ranging from low, medium, to high. Be sure to check it when buying a mattress.

A general rule of thumb to keep in mind is, the heavier someone is (and if you have back pain) the more they should prefer to buy a firm mattress that doesn’t sag or sulk in too much due to the weight and in turn putting more strain over the spine, neck, or back.

Foam density (generally denoted as “D” or Kg per cubic meter) is also a good indicator of how firm the mattress may be. There are different density foams such as 28D, 32D, 40D, and 80D. The higher the density of the foam, the more firm it would be. Density is also at times linked with durability.

Note: If you have a serious medical condition, you must consider your family doctor to identify which orthopedic mattress would be the best fit for you. For general health-related problems, you can refer to the table above.

Coir and Latex are 2 popular choices when it comes to selecting natural mattresses. Foam mattresses are mostly synthetic and made from petrochemicals. So keep this in mind when buying a sleeping mattress.

One of the most important factors to consider when buying a mattress is your budget. Mattresses range from as little as Rs.1000 to as high as 1.5 Lakhs+. You can also mix and match different foam layers as per your requirements to suit your budget.

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Your sleeping position is another important factor to consider when buying a mattress. If you are someone who is a side sleeper, you may benefit from a mattress that is soft and conforms to the contours of your body. Whereas if you are a back sleeper, you would ideally require a mattress that has a medium firmness to support your back. Choosing a too-soft mattress in such a case will put a strain on your spine. Lastly, for all belly sleepers, a mattress that is medium firm is ideally suitable as it can provide adequate support to your body to not let yourself sink in too much and off-balance your spine alignment.

Depending on your usage, you may require certain extra features such as extra softness, motion isolation, breathability or heat dissipation, etc.

😴Motion isolation in mattresses in simple words is the ability of your mattress to absorb weight and motion. Imagine you are sleeping with someone who tends to move around a lot in sleep. Motion isolation mattresses ensure that body movements aren’t felt across the bed.

☁️Softness levels in Mattresses: Everyone has a different preference for how soft, plush or firm they like their mattress to be. Some people like firm mattresses for back support. While some may like soft or extra plush mattresses that give a luxurious, cozy feel.

❄️Heat dissipation in Mattresses: Heat dissipation in mattresses is the ability of mattresses to manage heat. This determines how airy/cool or humid your mattress would be to sleep in. Some mattresses like Memory Foam generate more heat as compared to others like Latex

💪Durability of Mattresses: The durability of a mattress depends on factors such as its density (the more denser a mattress is, the more durable it is generally), and material composition (certain foams like memory foams are more durable as compared to natural mattress material Coir), mattress thickness (generally, the thicker a mattress is, the more durable it is and the less it sags in long-term), and last but not least, the construction of the mattress (how many & what type of layers of foams it has) Spring mattresses are less durable as compared to pure latex mattresses

🪲Dust, Bugs, Mites & Other Allergens in Mattresses: Like many other parts of our house, mattresses are good storage spaces for bugs, mites, and other allergens. These seemingly teeny-tiny bugs and mites live, eat, defecate, and sleep in your mattress (yup, in the same one you bought for thousands of bucks!) Allergens like dust, bugs, and mites can cause some serious health issues like asthma, infection, and more. Some mattresses like pure latex are naturally antimicrobial while some mattresses like innerspring mattresses, PU Foams, or even coir are more susceptible to bugs.

Tip: To tackle this problem, brands generally put an extra layer of antimicrobial foam shield to resist any growth of bugs, mites or dust. So when buying a mattress, be sure to check for this factor in your mattress.

Today, mattress manufacturing has become more advance with new technologies such as profiling, inserting cool gel particles, cool gel foams, antimicrobial shield foams etc to further customise your mattress.

• Different Types of Mattresses in India:

Following are some of the most common types of foams used in mattresses along with their pros and cons, health benefits and issues as well as foam feel and firmness.

1. PU Foam Mattress:

PU Foam is divided into 2 types, open-cell & closed-cell. Open-cell PU Foams are more breathable while closed-cell PU Foams have more thermal conductivity, and are more rigid and robust which is why they are mostly used outdoors.

Talking about PU foam mattress health issues, PU foam mattresses are possibly the worst for health as they release gases of Volatile Organic Compound (VOC). The main ingredient used while manufacturing PU foam mattresses is methylene diphenyl diisocyanate [MDI] and/or toluene diisocyanate [TDI]) both of which are made from the main ingredient, isocyanate.

Think you have heard the name “isocyanate” before? Well yes, remember the 1984 Bhopal tragedy where 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas was leaked & killed 3000+ people? I don’t think we need to explain any further just how harmful PU foam mattresses can be to health.

Foam feel: PU Foam’s firmness mostly depends on the variety of it but most PU Foams are low to moderately soft in nature with moderate to high firmness. PU Foam mattresses are best for superficial back pain relief, and instant comfort.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

PU Foams mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Mattress for back pain relief (instant mild back pain relief)

• Best to use as a layer in mattresses

High-resilience Foam or HR Foam is also a blend of Polyurethane. As compared to PU Foam, HR Foam has more density which makes it great to provide support to people with joint pains and back pain. It is also, a good choice of mattress for overweight people as the firmness and high density of HR Foam are capable of evenly distributing the weight and pressure.

HR Foam feel: HR Foam is a high-resilience foam that helps provide a bounce to the mattress. Being made from PU foam, it still provides a low to moderate softness depending on the density. HR foam as compared to memory foam has a much quicker response time.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

HR Foams mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Best Mattress for back pain relief

• Best mattress for support to joint pains

• Best mattress for heavy sleepers, side, and back sleepers

Memory Foam mattress like any other foam mattress is made from petrochemicals like Polyurethane with some extra chemicals that increase its density and viscosity. This is why memory foam mattress is also referred to as viscoelastic polyurethane foam or low-resilience polyurethane foam.

How to check memory foam quality?

Memory foam quality can be checked by its density and its ILD (Indentification Load Deflection). A higher density memory foam such as 32D upwards and with an ILD between 10 to 50 is more likely to last longer. To find a healthier alternative to traditional memory foam mattresses, you can buy an eco-friendly memory foam mattress made from plant-based materials or you can look for “low-VOC” certified memory foam mattresses.

Memory Foam feel: Memory foam has a super soft, body-hugging feel to it. Imagine sleeping on a fluffy cotton-like cloud which as per your body weight, makes your body sink in a bit and gives your body a soft, plush feel. Memory as compared to others has a much slower response time which is why it has a very low level of bounce.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

Memory Foams mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Best mattress for pressure points relief

• Best mattress for spine alignment

• Best mattress for back pain, body ache, and neck pain

• Best mattress for side sleepers.

• Best mattress for old-age adults and seniors

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Orthopaedic Memory Foam Mattress with 10-years warranty Under Rs.15,000

Moving on with our Mattress Buying Guide, we have one of the most preferred mattress materials which is latex. Latex mattresses are made from the sap of rubber trees. This gives our friend, Latex some really cool qualities to possess such as being naturally antimicrobial, having a natural bounce and softness to it and lastly being super-friendly to the skin and our health, unlike foam mattresses.

How to check natural latex mattresses online (or offline)?

• Ensure your latex mattress is certified with GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standards)

• You can also check for other certifications such as ECO Institut Tested Product to ensure its quality of being from pollutants and Oeko Tex Certification to ensure the product is free of harmful substances

• The number of years of warranty. Generally, a pure latex mattress has a warranty of 15 years, 20 Years, or above

• The density of a natural latex mattress ranges from 60 kg/m3 to about 95 kg/m3

Latex mattress feel: Latex mattress is made from the sap of a rubber tree, has an inherent bounce to it. The sap extracted is filled in a container, made to expand by vacuum, made ventilation holes into, baked, and then cooled. This process makes Latex a super breathable mattress, soft in feel and yet with a bounce or high responsive rate, unlike memory foam.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

Natural Latex mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Best mattress for back pain, neck pain, and body pain relief

• Best mattress for spine alignment

• Best mattress for back sleepers, side sleepers, and belly sleepers

• Best mattress for couples due to its disturbance absorbency

• Best mattress for overweight people

Recommendation for all natural GOL and GOT certified latex mattress in India: Orthoganic Luxury Mattress

Spring Foam Mattress comes in 4 different types: pocketed, offset coil, Bonnel coil, & continuous coil. A general rule of thumb is the higher the number of coils, the better support.

Pocketed coils are also called Marshall Coils. These are round-shaped coils wrapped in fabric. Pocketed coils are more expensive and are suitable for heavy sleepers as well as those who sleep on their stomach.

Bonnel Coil spring mattresses are more economical and more cooling. However, due to their hourglass structure, they aren’t more durable.

Offset Coils spring mattresses are more durable and their structure is designed to provide stability and firmness. If you are slightly overweight and have back and joint ache issues, an offset spring mattress can be a good choice.

Continuous Coils as compared to Bonnel coils or Offset coils are more supportive and cary more weight. These spring mattresses are known for their density and high durability.

Spring Mattress Feel: As the name suggests, spring mattresses have more bounce to them and can support individuals with a heavy weight. Because of their construction, these spring mattresses are perfect for people with joint pain, body pain, or back support. The firmness and softness of a spring mattress depend can vary and be customized at different levels.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

Spring mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Best mattress for back support

• Best mattress for breathability and freshness

• Innerspring and hybrid mattresses are best for heavy-weight people

Coir mattresses are another natural mattress material that is produced after soaking coconut husks in water for a few days and then beaten in a disintegrator to prepare coir fibers. These coir fibers then are used to make coir mattresses. Coir mattresses are available for cheap prices. However, they have a lesser life span.

Coir Mattress Feel: Despite being made from coconut husks, coir mattresses possess a medium to low soft feel with moderate to high firmness. There’s little to no bounce that you’d get to experience sleeping in a coir mattress.

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

Coir mattresses are best used for the following use cases.

• Best mattress for being cheap and economical

Bonded foam mattresses or rebonded foam mattresses are made from scraps of PU Foam (Polyurethane foam). This makes the bonded foam extra firm as well as super economical to purchase. Bonded foams by themselves are no good for health but if they are often combined with other foams such as memory foam, they can prove to be great for some orthopedic benefits such as for providing back support, as well as a strong base for your mattress.

Because Bonded foams are super dense in nature, they are less likely to be home to bugs, mites, and dust.

Bonded foam Mattress Feel: Bonded foams are made by gluing pieces of PU Foam together. This is why bonded foams are firmer and tougher in feel. They possess little to no softness. Due to being super dense, they also have little to no bounce

Pros & Cons:

Best use-cases:

Bonded mattresses are best used for the following use cases (If combined with another supportive foam layer):

• Best orthopedic mattress

• Best mattress for back support

• Best mattress for resisting bugs, allergens, and dust.

So, this was all about sharing how to choose a mattress for sleeping, back pain, spine alignment & other causes. In this detailed mattress buying guide, we have tried to cover all the possible details and factors to consider when buying a mattress online or offline.

We will soon bring an article featuring our top 10 picks for the best mattresses in India. Please share with us suggestions in the comments below what else would you like us to review and if you know of any super amazing mattresses?

Also Read: Things to Consider When Buying a House in India