This Zoombie need sleep

[phoenix]

Hi fkudlack,

The current bed we have is a King Simmons Beautyrest World Class. The Bed is between 8-9 years old and seems like the past year it has really started to go down hill. There are noticeable sags where my wife sleeps and where I sleep. We have been walking up very sore and stiff and constantly wake up through out the night. In the morning its hard to get out of bed because we’re so tired and seems we don’t have enough energy to conquer the day and we’re only 30 years old!

You did well to get 8 or 9 years of life out of a major brand mattress but it certainly sounds like it’s time for a new one.

So we started mattress shopping, talked to some friends that swore by sleep number so we went to check them out. We ended up liking a configuration that was almost 8k, We just couldn’t justify spending that much on a bed. I also felt like the bed had a water bed feel kind of when you moved around on it.

You can see my thoughts about airbeds in general this article. While any mattress can be a good match for a specific person because each person’s needs and preferences or the criteria that are most important to them can be very different … in general terms I would tend to avoid them unless there is a very compelling reason that an airbed would be a better choice in “real life” (outside of the many “marketing stories” that you will hear about them) than the many other options or types of mattresses that are available to you. For those that are committed to an airbed and are convinced that there are no other types of mattresses that will meet your criteria then there are some other airbed options that are listed in post #3 here that may be much better quality/value choices than Sleep Number/Select Comfort.

Next we went to a mattress store, we laid on some bed and fought off the used car salesmen but didn’t get any closer to figuring out what we needed. We wondered how can we determine if a bed is the right one after 20 mins of laying on it?

I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … if you are looking for a new mattress then the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you 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 your own 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.

While nothing has a 100% success rate … with a local purchase and for the majority of people … careful testing using the guidelines in the tutorial (rather than just testing for the more subjective “comfort” of a mattress which often won’t predict how well you will sleep on a mattress or how it will “feel” when you sleep on it at home) along with some good guidance from a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests in mind will usually result in a mattress choice that is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and will generally be “close enough” so that if any fine tuning is necessary it would be relatively minor and involve different mattress pads, sheets, mattress protectors, or perhaps even a topper if a mattress is too firm (see post #4 here and post #10 here).

Helix bed as another friend had recommended it, it could be customized and had 100 night trial. We felt like sleeping on it a few night was a way better way to see if it was the right bed. Got the bed and what a disaster, After on night we booth felt like we had been in a car accident and after the second night it was worse so we swapped out our original mattress and started the return process for the helix(which customer service was great to deal with).

I’m sorry to hear that your Helix mattress didn’t work out as well as you hoped for but the good news is that you had the foresight to choose an online mattress that has a great return policy so you could try out the mattress in your bedroom instead of a showroom without any risk.

I would also keep in mind that there will be a break in and adjustment period for any new mattress or sleeping system as the mattress loses any of it’s “false firmness” and the cover stretches and loosens a little and the materials settle and your body gets used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to (see post #3 here). This could typically be a few weeks but it can be shorter or longer depending on the specifics of the person and the mattress (higher density materials can take longer) and it can be surprising to many people how much their sleeping experience can change over the course of the first month or so.

So back to square one and after realizing a mostly foam bed was not for us I started looking back at inner spring beds.

Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here relative to your weight range … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article).

“Foam” is just a generic term and there are three main types of foam that are used in the industry (memory foam, polyfoam, and latex foam) and each of them have very different properties. Each mattress category can also include hundreds or even thousands of different mattresses with a very wide range of different designs, different “feels”, different characteristics, and different firmness levels. Every individual layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting material) will affect the feel and response of every other layer and component both above and below it and the mattress “as a whole” so each mattress category will generally include some mattresses that will be a good “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP and others that use the same type of materials and components and are in the same category and may be just as durable but have a different design or firmness level that may be completely unsuitable for you to sleep on … even if it uses the same general type of materials and components.

In other words I wouldn’t exclude all the mattresses in several different categories based only on your experience with a single mattress in a single category.

I came across Saatva and researched them I liked everything I read but got kind of skeptical when there was next to no negative reviews out of thousands. That’s when I stumbled up0n this site and started reading.

You can see some comments about Saatva in post #2 here and the posts and topics it links to.

I figure at one time we liked our bed so maybe we should look for a bed with the same build but I have had trouble trying to figure out exactly how to get those specs It just says Simmons beautyrest world class no other tags with a model number or something like it. I’m 6’7 275ld and my wife is 6’0 170lb we are both 30 and sleep hot.

All the major brands such as Sealy/Stearns & Foster, Simmons, and Serta all tend to use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses than most of their smaller competitors that will tend to soften or break down prematurely relative to the price you pay which is why I would generally suggest avoiding all of them completely (along with most of the retailers that focus on them as well) regardless of how they may feel in a showroom along with any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the type and quality/durability of the materials inside it (see the guidelines here along with post #3 here and post #12 here and post #404 here).

You won’t be able to find out the specs of your previous mattress that would allow you to “duplicate” it but even if you did you wouldn’t find another mattress that was exactly the same anyway.

In most cases spending time testing major brand mattresses or any mattress where you can’t find out the specifics of the materials and components inside it and where another manufacturer doesn’t make a better quality/value mattress that they specifically describe as being similar (which in this case they wouldn’t) is mostly wasted because it would be too risky to purchase and it can’t be used as a reference point to purchase another mattress that is “similar” anyway.

I’m 6’7 275ld and my wife is 6’0 170lb we are both 30 and sleep hot. Also we both tend to sleep on our sides/stomachs but seem to toss and turn a lot through the night theses days. So now we are kind of confused on which way we should go we don’t want to get stuck with a bed that we bought from a store that we spent 20 mins on and thought was comfortable and we can’t return it if not right for us. Sorry for the rant just constantly tired and need guidance.

While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … It’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Your best chance of success will be to follow the steps in the tutorial one at a time.

If you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.

If you are also interested in continuing to try online choices then the mattress shopping tutorial includes several links to lists of many of the better online options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) that include many different types and categories of mattresses that use different materials and components in a wide range of designs, budgets, firmness levels, and with different return/exchange policies that may be well worth considering a well.

In its simplest form choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …

1. Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.

2. Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.

3. Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

Phoenix