How to choose a mattress: Mattress features and when to replace it

When choosing a mattress, factors such as material type, size, and firmness are important. To ensure a comfortable sleep, we'll introduce how to choose the right mattress for you and when to replace it.

The mattress you use every day is a bedding item that affects the quality of your sleep. If you continue to use a mattress that doesn't suit you, it can put a strain on your lower back and shoulders, making it difficult to recover from fatigue even if you sleep soundly.

Mattresses come in various types, such as pocket coils, high-resilience urethane, and fiber materials, each offering different levels of body support and comfort. Additionally, prolonged use can lead to sagging and wear, so it's important to replace your mattress at the appropriate time.

This article will explain how to choose a mattress, its functions, and when to replace it.

Mattress Functions

Mattresses primarily have three functions:

• Create an ideal sleeping posture
• Promote tossing and turning
• Maintain temperature and humidity within the bedding

Create an ideal sleeping posture

A correct sleeping posture means that your spine maintains a natural S-curve even during sleep, just as it does when you are standing. To maintain this S-curve during sleep, it is crucial to distribute body pressure evenly by supporting the body with the mattress.

By reducing the burden on areas where weight tends to concentrate, such as the shoulders, lower back, and hips, and supporting an ideal sleeping posture along the body's contours, you can achieve high-quality sleep. A correct sleeping posture is an important factor that significantly impacts how you wake up in the morning and your overall physical condition throughout the day.

If you want to know more about ideal sleeping posture, please refer to this article:
What is the ideal sleeping posture? A thorough explanation of the key points for back, side, and stomach sleeping

Promote tossing and turning

We toss and turn an average of 20 times during an 8-hour night's sleep. This prevents pressure on the same body parts and promotes blood circulation, thereby reducing strain on the body.

Furthermore, tossing and turning are crucial physiological phenomena that play a vital role in maintaining comfortable sleep by regulating body temperature, keeping the bed environment at a stable temperature, and releasing heat and moisture.

From this, it can be said that the ease of tossing and turning is an important criterion when choosing a mattress.

Additionally, we explain the reasons why you might not be able to toss and turn below. Please use it as a reference.
What Causes Inability to Toss and Turn? The Importance of Tossing and Turning for Adults and How to Choose Bedding for Better Sleep

Maintain temperature and humidity within the bedding

During sleep, your body temperature naturally drops to promote deep sleep. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "e-Health Net," the ideal bed environment is 33 degrees Celsius and 50% humidity.

To achieve an optimal environment, a mattress needs excellent moisture absorption, release, and temperature uniformity.

Types of Mattresses [by Material]

While mattresses may all look similar, their internal structures and the materials used vary. Understanding these characteristics will help you choose the right mattress for you. Here, we'll categorize them into coil and non-coil types.

Coil types

Coil types include pocket coils and Bonnell coils.

Pocket Coils

Pocket coil mattresses feature individual coil springs encased in separate non-woven fabric pockets.

This structure allows them to operate independently according to your body's weight and shape, achieving ideal pressure distribution. They conform precisely to your body's contours, leading to comfortable sleep.

Bonnell Coils

Bonnell coil mattresses have a structure where springs are connected, supporting the body across the entire surface. They offer high durability and breathability, and are characterized by a slightly firm sleeping comfort.

However, due to the connected spring structure, vibrations are easily transmitted, so it is not recommended for two people. Furthermore, they have the disadvantage of being heavy and difficult to move.

Nonetheless, the advantage is that many products are more affordable compared to pocket coils.

Non-coil types

There are mainly four types of non-coil mattresses.

Fiber

Non-coil fiber mattresses are made from resin fibers such as polyethylene or polyester, woven into a fibrous material without coils.

They are highly breathable, allowing air to flow smoothly, making them comfortable even in summer. Furthermore, many products are washable, making them ideal for those concerned about hygiene.

They are also highly resilient, providing firm body support and making it easy to toss and turn.

Latex

Latex mattresses are made from foamed natural rubber sap, providing natural softness and breathability.

Additionally, being a natural material, it is environmentally friendly, and the advantage is that it can be disposed of as combustible waste by finely shredding it.

High-resilience Urethane

According to the definition by the Consumer Affairs Agency, urethane foam mattresses are specified as, "limited to those where the maximum thickness of the urethane foam part is 50mm or more."
Urethane Foam Mattresses | Consumer Affairs Agency

While there is no clear standard for classifying high-resilience and low-resilience mattresses, high-resilience is generally perceived as having a firmer feel, and low-resilience as having a softer feel.

Among them, high-resilience urethane foam mattresses are characterized by improved breathability, ensured by air passages provided by the uneven surface structure created by profile processing. They possess high elasticity and provide firm support for the body.

Low-resilience Urethane

Low-resilience urethane foam mattresses, with their special structure that suppresses rebound force, slowly conform to the shape of the body, effectively distributing pressure.

However, low resilience also comes with disadvantages such as poor breathability and difficulty in tossing and turning. Therefore, considerations based on the usage environment and sleeping posture trends are necessary.

How to Choose a Mattress

Here are 6 tips to avoid regretting your mattress purchase.

• Choose by firmness and elasticity
• Choose by thickness
• Choose by durability
• Choose by size
• Choose by functionality
• Choose by lifestyle and usage situation

Choose by firmness and elasticity

The firmness of a mattress is crucial for comfortable sleep and maintaining good health. A mattress that is too firm can lead to pain from bone pressure and poor blood circulation, hindering quality sleep.

On the other hand, if it's too soft, your chest and lower back will sink too deeply, disrupting the S-curve balance and potentially causing back pain.

An ideal mattress should have a certain degree of elasticity and be able to maintain a correct sleeping posture that naturally forms an S-curve.

As a guide for choosing the right firmness for you, there is a selection method based on body weight.

Please use the above as a reference when choosing.

Choose by thickness

If you're placing it directly on the floor, a thickness of around 11cm is comfortable enough to use without a bed frame. To prevent feeling the floor through the mattress, a thickness of at least 7cm is recommended.

Note that thin mattresses of 5cm or less may cause you to feel the floor, but they offer advantages such as being foldable for easy storage and being suitable for use with futons. Therefore, it's important to choose a thickness that matches your purpose, preferences, and lifestyle.

Choose by durability

The lifespan of a mattress varies by material, but generally, coil-type mattresses tend to last longer than non-coil types.

In particular, coil mattresses with sturdy springs are designed to distribute body pressure easily and resist sagging. It's important to choose a mattress that suits you, considering its lifespan.

If you'd like to know more about the specific lifespan of mattresses, please also refer to this article:
How many years does a mattress last? Signs it's time to replace and mattresses that can last for 30 years

Choose by size

When choosing a size, it's important to consider the number of users, body type, and the space available in the bedroom where it will be placed.

Below is a basic mattress size chart for your reference.

By choosing a size that suits your body type, room size, and furniture arrangement, you can ensure a comfortable sleeping space. Additionally, along with the size of the bedroom, it's important to consider the delivery route.

Choose by functionality

Mattresses, being used daily, inevitably accumulate sweat and sebum, which is why there's a growing number of washable types and models that incorporate highly breathable materials.

Furthermore, foldable mattresses that make it easy to secure storage space are also available. They can be compactly stored when not in use, making them ideal for limited spaces.

Choose by lifestyle and usage situation

Choosing a mattress that takes into account changes in lifestyle is also important. If you plan to move in the future, you'll need to consider portability, and if you're planning to raise children, you'll need to think about size and durability for family use.

Additionally, factors such as whether you tend to sleep on your side or toss and turn frequently will also be criteria for choosing a mattress.

When to Replace Your Mattress

To achieve a good night's sleep, it's also important to know when to replace your mattress. For example, if you can see indentations in the lower back area that don't return to their original shape, or if mold or mites that can't be removed by cleaning are proliferating, it's time to consider replacing it.

Furthermore, if you start to feel uncomfortable pain in your lower back or back when you wake up, it's likely that the mattress's pressure distribution has deteriorated, so an early replacement is recommended.

Brain Sleep's mattresses combine comfort and functionality

From here, for those who want to be particular about their mattress, we will introduce three recommended products from Brain Sleep. Please check them out.

Brain Sleep Mattress Premium Float

This product firmly supports the body from all directions with its 9-layer structure. The special structure allows for smooth tossing and turning, reducing energy consumption during sleep by 15%.

Additionally, the leg section is designed to be 4cm higher than the chest, which helps blood circulation back to the chest, effective in reducing fatigue and swelling.

Furthermore, the ultra-pressure-distributing structure, composed of over 90% air pockets, supports ideal tossing and turning. It prevents heat and moisture from accumulating during sleep, maintaining a comfortable sleeping environment.
Brain Sleep Mattress Premium Float

Brain Sleep Mattress Plus Float

The Brain Sleep Mattress Plus Float is a product that can reproduce the posture with the least burden on the human body, as advocated by NASA, on the ground.

It provides optimal support for the legs, hips, and shoulders, designed to reduce strain on muscles and the spine. The unique three-dimensional structure generates a repulsive force as if floating in space, bringing about the ultimate state of relaxation, as if released from gravity.

Furthermore, the repetitive absorption and repulsion of the 7-layer structure smoothly supports natural tossing and turning. With zero-gravity technology that minimizes the load on the body during sleep by dispersing it, you can experience the ultimate feeling of deep sleep that combines an ideal sleeping posture with ultra-pressure distribution.
Brain Sleep Mattress Plus Float

Brain Sleep Mattress Float

This product firmly supports the lumbar region with three layers of high-resilience fiber. In particular, the lumbar area, which tends to bear significant body pressure, features a high-density, firmer structure, providing stability.

It supports the body during sleep, maintaining an ideal posture that makes breathing easier. Additionally, by preventing the lower back from sinking, it facilitates tossing and turning, offering peace of mind even for those concerned about back pain.

Moreover, maintenance is incredibly simple: just rinse with water and place it in a well-ventilated area to dry.
Brain Sleep Mattress Float

Achieve comfortable sleep by choosing the right mattress

By choosing a mattress that suits you, you can experience comfortable sleep and high-quality rest. Consider factors such as pressure distribution, breathability, and durability, and select a mattress that fits your lifestyle.

Among them, Brain Sleep mattresses are highly recommended. They use a unique fiber material, achieving high breathability and pressure distribution. Since they are washable, they are easy to keep clean, making them ideal for those looking to improve their sleeping environment. Their high resilience supports a natural sleeping posture, leading to ideal sleep.

If you're interested in Brain Sleep mattresses, please check them out here:
Mattress Product List