When you buy a new mattress, if it’s not completely comfortable, there is a sleep trial of at least 30 days to 120 days or more. A lot of times people refer to the “break in period” for the mattress as foams are very firm up front and will soften over weeks of use.
My question is if you are uncomfortable on your mattress out of the gate, will your body really “adjust” to the new bed where overtime it becomes comfortable? Or are you really just waiting for the bed to soften up a bit in order to be more comfortable?
I think it’s more your mind that does the adjusting to the feel than your body. Maybe there are a few tendons or muscles that need to be exercised to assist your posture on the new mattress.
Great question! While a too-firm mattress, or a prematurely worn foam mattress with ‘divots’ or ‘ruts’ can certainly “break-in” a person negatively, causing joint and muscle pain and even alignment issue, the goal is to indeed ‘break in’ a mattress to suit the individual sleepers body, which is why the sleep trial is important to have when searching for a new mattress. It make take up to 3-6 weeks for a person to accurately determine whether the mattress, now ‘broken in’, still feels comfortable. This comes down to materials, the sleepers BMI, and sleeping positions, as every sleeper is unique and everyone has different ideas on what is comfortable – one persons too firm mattress in=s too soft for someone else.
If you are uncomfortable on a new mattress, it may be that the mattress has not ‘worn in’ sufficiently to your body and sleep style – BUT it could also indicate you are not matched correctly with that specific mattress. ALWAYS ensure there is a trial period and decent return policy, like those offered by theTrusted Members of the siteThe last thing you want is to be stuck with an uncomfortable mattress after spending a significant amount of money and be forced to replace it.
If you have not already, you might want to take a look at theMattress Specifications You need To Know and the Mattress Durability Guidelines to see how various materials can affect the feel of a mattress, and how they hold up over time, Also, this article onSleeping Positions and their requirements might provide some insight as to when a mattress just needs ‘breaking in’ and when its just not compatible for you. You definitely do not want to be in the position of ‘breaking in’ your body to adapt to a mattress, as this can cause long term alignment issue, and muscle and joint pain.