You are so wonderful for having such an incredible and informative site. I really appreciate your detail and depth of knowledge. I have a question for you. About 8 years ago I purchased a bed in Beverly Hills called a Royal Pedic, to the tune of over $5000.00. It was latex and supposed to be organic…blah blah. The first year, the bed was absolutely amazing. By the second year I couldn’t even lay down on it because I felt like someone broke my back. I sold it for a song on craigslist. Anyway because of this I am so weary of purchasing anything with latex. I am in desperate need for a bed and while I do have the budget to buy something expensive (my husband wants a Hastens) I am scared to buy an expensive bed to be quite honest. More terrified of latex. So I guess my question is….why do you think that the Royal -Pedic went south so fast? I have been reading on your site that latex is more durable and lasts a long time. …….why did mine not last at all??? I am SO frustrated. In all honesty I ordered a Wink bed last week and while I do love the feel, I roll into my husband in the middle of the bed. Neither of us are huge people. I won’t be keeping the bed and I was just looking at some lower cost options like the Brooklyn Bed, Kiss, and the Alexander bed from Nest. Brooklyn and Kiss have latex and I’m afraid. Can you offer any ideas on why the Roya-l Pedic felt horrible after one year?? ( I can take it, I promise) and maybe my body just hates latex…???
Thank you in advance to any great ideas on this Phoenix! Much respect and appreciation……
Marilyn
Hi MEA,
Unfortunately I don’t have enough information about you or the mattress for me to know or even guess at why you would fairly suddenly stop sleeping well on a mattress that you had slept well on for a year.
There really are only 4 main possibilities that I can think of though which are either something in the mattress changed, something in the support system under the mattress changed, something that you were using on top of the mattress changed, or something in you and/or your own needs and preferences changed.
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All mattresses change over time and gradually lose their comfort and/or support as the various materials and components start to soften and/or break down or natural fibers in the mattress (such as cotton or wool) compress and become firmer but these types of changes are quite gradual with higher quality and more durable materials. Since latex is a very durable material these types of changes normally wouldn’t make a significant or meaningful difference to your sleeping comfort or to the support of the mattress for many years assuming that the mattress was suitable for you in the first place in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and wasn’t “on the edge” of being too soft when it was new. Although it would be relatively uncommon … it’s also possible that your mattress had some kind of defect in the materials which could have shown up in the first year (such as a defective latex layer).
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I’m not sure which type of support system you were using under the mattress but a foundation or a box spring (such as the one that is usually used with a Royal-Pedic two sided mattress) would normally last much longer than a year unless it was defective or something was broken. It’s also possible that something in the bedframe you were using broke as well. If the support system under your mattress no longer provides suitable support for your mattress it could certainly make a significant difference in how well you sleep.
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If you were using a mattress pad or a topper and it started to compress, soften, or break down or if you added something to the top of the mattress around the time that you stopped sleeping well then it’s possible that this could have been the reason for the change in your sleeping experience.
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The last possibility is that something changed in you that affected your comfort or support and which could have changed the type or firmness level of a mattress that would be the most suitable for you to sleep on (developing a health issue or a back issue for example or a change in weight among many other possibilities … some of which could be more “sudden” and some of which could be more gradual).
Again … it’s not really possible for me to know which of these it could have been.
The type of materials and components in a mattress is always a preference and/or a budget choice rather than a “better/worse” choice because whether a particular mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP is related more to the specific design of a mattress and the firmness/softness of the different layers and components and how they affect the mattress “as a whole” than the specific type of materials or components that are inside it. If the materials are also good quality and durable versions of the materials and components that you prefer then most people that are sleeping well on a mattress for the first year would continue to sleep well for many years after that as well.
Some people just prefer the feel of different materials or different combinations of materials and components in their mattress so some people for example may prefer may prefer some type of innerspring mattress, some people may prefer memory foam mattresses, and some people may prefer latex mattresses (see this article). I would also keep in mind that every category of mattresses has a wide range of different designs and firmness levels and each of them may be suitable for some people and not for others so you may find that one mattress in a particular category is a perfect “match” for you while another mattress that uses the same type of materials and components in a different design or with different firmness levels may be completely unsuitable for you to sleep on.
Since you slept well on latex for a year I don’t see any reason that it wouldn’t be well worth considering again as one of your options as long as you are confident that the specific latex mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP and that it’s not too firm or too soft. You may find that you prefer latex over other types of mattresses or that you prefer other types of mattresses more than latex but the only reliable way to know which type of mattress you tend to prefer is based on your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) or your own personal sleeping experience.
There are also many high quality mattresses (including all latex mattresses) that are in significantly lower budget ranges than your Royal-Pedic latex mattress and you certainly don’t need to be in that budget range to find a very high quality “all latex” mattress that uses the same or similar materials and components as the Royal-Pedic mattress you owned (see this article)
If you are starting the process of looking for a new mattress then the first place I would start is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists (based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you).
Once you reach step 3 in the tutorial if you let me know your city or zip code I’d also be happy to let you know about any of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area as well.
The three mattresses you mentioned all use high quality and durable materials and there are no lower quality materials weak links in any of them in terms of durability although you may prefer one combination of materials more than another. If you are comfortable with an online choice (and the return/exchange policy that goes with it) then the tutorial also includes several links to lists of some of the better online options I’m aware of as well in the optional online step (including the 3 mattresses you mentioned) that include many different types of mattresses that use different combinations of materials and components in a wide range of prices.
Phoenix