Nowadays, when people claim to have sleeping issues or body pain after they wake up in the morning, they often hear that their wrong mattress can be one of the causes. Until recent times, we were unaware that the mattresses could be the reason behind any sleep or health-related issues. But now, hundreds of academics and experts have established that cozy and comfortable-looking mattresses are at the top of the lists that cause sleep or health-related difficulties.
What Makes a Mattress Wrong for You?
So, what makes a soft, welcoming mattress wrong for you?
Well, there are plenty of reasons that the mattress can be wrong in general or particular for you. For example,
The Mattress Itself
There are plenty of reasons that make your mattress wear out, whether it’s bought from a top mattress brand or some local one.
The reasons that make the mattress wrong for you, such as;
Limited Lifespan
Mattresses also come with an expiry date, just like any other perishable items. According to surveys, most mattresses’ average life is around eight years; after that, they need replacement to avoid any health and sleep complications.
Nowadays, many mattress brands in India provide you with ten years of warranty on their mattresses. After which, mattresses start losing their comforting and supportive capabilities. Sometimes, inappropriate care, jumping, being overweight, or the wrong base may shorten the mattress’s lifespan.
Sagging
It is another problem that makes the mattress all the way wrong for you. Sagging is the result of continuous pressure caused by body weight that makes its coils weaken or memory foam starts losing its shape.
Thus, it is important to select a mattress that doesn’t lose its form or sag for longer periods. Many mattress brands in India come with new inventions that prevent mattresses from sagging and provide you with ample comfortable support for years after years.
House of Dust Mites
The human body sheds dead skin even though we are unaware of it. And over the period, mattresses begin accumulating dead skin, which further attracts dust mites. Besides dust mites, mattresses are collectors of pet residue, mildew, mold, and other allergens.
It’s always important to clean your mattress once in a while, showing it sunlight and dusting it to keep all these harmful insects and allergens away.
It’s Broken
After a few years, mattresses face issues with their foundation, coils, and springs due to age, improper maintenance, being overweight, or hopping on them. Sometimes, it causes health issues, and broken springs may injure your body if it comes out.
The proper maintenance and checking of your mattress’s condition now and then are important to avoid body pain and injuries.
Our body
Another reason that makes a mattress wrong apart from the mattress itself is its user, i.e., our body. Directly or indirectly, our body becomes the reason that makes mattresses wrong for us.
Some of its reasons make mattresses wrong for health, such as:
Sleeping position
Every person has their preferred side; they sleep most of the night. Some prefer to sleep on their back, while others prefer it better on their side or stomach. Thus, sleeping on different sides means different kinds of pressure for every side.
For example, those who sleep on their back require support to their spine and need a firmer mattress, unlike those who sleep on their side because side sleepers create pressure points on shoulders and hips, which requires more softness.
Chronic body pains
Many people have chronic body or back pain, and sleeping on a mattress that provides poor support may increase their issues further. Thus, they require an orthopedic mattress with enough firmness to provide relief rather than pain.
Sleeping with partners
Many people share the mattress with others, be it their partners or kids. And every person has a different weight which further causes uneven sagging of the mattress. Sometimes too firm a mattress makes it impossible to move to avoid disturbing others’ sleep.
Weight
Different body weight of a person requires different types of firmness. Our body weight determines the pressure we put on the mattress, which in return gives support to our pressure points. If a person uses a mattress that fails to provide proper support according to weight, it turns out to be wrong.
What impact does the wrong mattress have on you?
You may not benefit from using a good mattress, but usage of the wrong mattress can have an abundance of bad impacts on your body, health, and sleep quality; and can cause various illnesses or enhance the existing ones.
The impacts the wrong mattress can have on our body such as:
Sleep quality
The major impact the wrong mattress can have is on sleep quality. A mattress can cause sleep deprivation in many ways, such as sagging, dust mites, broken springs, or firmness. These bad qualities of the mattress make you twist and turn the whole night, causing sleep disruption. If it keeps happening continually, it develops into sleep debt and disorders affecting sleep quality.
Harm body posture
Poor sleep quality and continued use of the wrong mattress further have a worse impact on our body that converts into excruciating pain, which develops slowly or, in some cases, quite abruptly. Wrong mattresses can cause you to sleep in unnatural positions, which further induces back pain and body aches. While sometimes, people with back pain use mattresses that are not designed for them, increasing their problem.
Skin
Our skin has direct or immediate contact with the mattress and thus becomes an easy target for infections, allergies, or rashes caused by mattresses that are old, dusty, and full of allergens and dust mites.
Also, the wrong types of mattresses become the first and foremost cause of sleep deprivation, resulting in premature signs of aging such as dark circles, fine lines, and wrinkles.
Mental health
Mental health becomes the ultimate target of usage of the wrong mattress. Using the incorrect mattress causes stress and depression, which keeps your mind active throughout the night, causing sleep deprivation. Further, sleep deprivation makes you stressed during the day and prevents you from performing daily chores, further escalating stress at night and completing a cycle with negative mental health consequences.
Other health problems
Besides the obvious health issues, the wrong mattress can create or impact other health issues such as blood pressure, obesity, memory loss, heart condition, immune system, libido, lungs and throat problems, etc.
How to solve the problem with the wrong mattress?
To avoid all health problems and maintain sleep quality, it is important to have a correct mattress; therefore, here are some pointers that may help you to get rid of those wrong mattresses which cause you sufferings.
Maintain Your Mattress
We invest a fortune when we buy luxury mattresses online; hence it’s not advisable to throw it away or buy a new one immediately when our choice goes wrong. Thus, try to make the most out of it by taking measures such as,
- Maintain hygiene to keep dust mites and allergens away from the mattress.
- Change the sides of the mattress or turn it over once in a while to avoid sagging in one section.
- Try to add a mattress cover or protector that will not only protect the mattress but will provide you necessary comfort or firmness.
Buy new mattress
Sometimes it’s not feasible to work with the available mattress due to various reasons like its old age, worn out, or not suitable for body posture. Therefore, we seek to buy a new mattress. However, it is not about always buying the best mattress online or offline but about whether it suits your needs.
Thus, the selection of mattresses depends on various things mentioned above, such as body weight, preferred sleeping side, chronic illnesses, and firmness. Factors that determine mattress selection are manufacturer, quality, material, firmness, and cost.
Bottom line
Thus, if correct measures are taken at the right time, you may prevent yourself from all the troubles caused by the wrong mattresses.