Hi there,
I’m shopping for a new mattress, after reading an issue of the Costco magazine where they talked about the different mattresses they carry. I’ve been sleeping on a Sealy Posturepedic Fenway Ultraplush for the past 5 years. I’ve found that while I fall asleep easily, I have a hard time getting out of bed. I also found that even after 8 or 9 hours of rest, I still felt sluggish during the day, which made me question whether the quality of sleep I was getting was good. I never really had issues with my back or stiffness, unless I exercised heavily the day before.
As I was learning of the different types of bed, I read how memory foam beds promise to make you feel more refreshed, and offered pressured point relief. So I went to Costco and purchased the Novaform Gel Memory Foam bed. I have generally trusted the things I get at Costco since I know how much research their buyers conduct when they decide what products they carry in their warehouse.
I’m now 3 months into this new bed, and I have not adjusted to it. I have restless leg syndrome and I move frequently when I sleep. I have no problem falling asleep on this bed, but I wake up whenever I move to my side because it feels uncomfortable and very stiff. I also have awoken with major headaches - I’ve tried different pillows and it doesn’t help.
I’m now completely confused as to what kind of bed I should get. Should I give memory foam another try? I can’t help but want the deep cradling comfort it promises, but given my sleep profile, I don’t know if memory foam is for me. I’m thinking about just staying with innerspring because I can move freely around my bed without waking up. I looked up sleeplikethedead.com, and it seems most customers are deeply dissatisfied with innerspring mattress and moving towards memory foam and latex.
I would love your guidance as to what kind of bed best suits my sleep profile. And if you recommend Costco as a good place ot buy beds, as they have a great return policy and I tend to believe in the products they carry.
Most of the mattresses sold by Costco are either major brands (which are generally poor value no matter where you buy them) or lower quality mattresses such as the Novaform which use low density materials.
They do carry some better quality/value mattresses though but it’s a little difficult to find these because they don’t always disclose the specs of the foam and components that are in their mattresses and this is the only way to know the real quality/value of a mattress.
I thought I would add a link to this site because you are mentioning having a headache and listlessness which can sometimes be caused by some of the ingredients in memory foam when people are particularly sensitive to some of the chemicals in it. Novaform is the only memory foam that I have personally reacted to and I had the “classic” symptoms of headache, burning mouth and throat, flu-like symptoms, aching muscles, listlessness, and strange dreams. Both of us experienced the same symptoms for the few weeks we used the topper and the symptoms went away as soon as we removed it and returned it to Costco. This was their “regular” memory foam and not their gel foam.
This was also a few years ago just before CertiPur testing came into existence and they were “certified” so I don’t know if I just had one that wasn’t cured properly or if they changed their memory foam formulation when CertiPur testing came into existence. In any case … Novaform uses low quality memory foam and gel foam and they are not particularly good value.
The challenge with buying a mattress from Costco is that there is no way to know how the mattress will feel and perform when you buy it (unless you have tested the exact same mattress locally) and the employees there know very little about mattresses and “fitting” a mattress to your needs and preferences. In effect you are rolling the dice. Of course the risk is lowered because of their return policy but this doesn’t usually offset the wasted time and effort when it is usually much more effective to work with a source that knows more about the mattresses they are selling. The “value” of the mattresses at Costco is mostly poor with a few better exceptions and knowing the difference between different types of foam and materials and how to tell good quality from bad quality is one of the keys to buying from them (or any online source) to make up for the risk you are taking.
This pinned post (and the links it leads to) will give you a step by step process of how to find a mattress that best suits your needs and preferences and which types of mattresses and materials may work best for you.
The choice of material is based on personal preference but no matter which materials you decide to use in your mattress … the goal is to make sure it is the best quality available inside your budget for that type of material. All materials have better and worse quality and knowing how to tell the difference (or working with someone who already knows the difference) is one of the most important keys to finding the best mattress … for you.
Once you know a little more about your choices, have tested some of the different materials that are used in mattresses, and have “connected” with some of the better local manufacturers or retailers that know what you would otherwise need to learn (particularly about how to know the quality of materials in a mattress) … the process of looking for a mattress is much simpler and much more enjoyable.