Mattress Industry Today

A mattress search can feel overwhelming. There are so many companies, styles, and brand names, and so much jargon, that it’s hard to compare. But with the right information, you can make your decision with confidence.

Conventional Mattresses. Mattress inventions range from innersprings to fiber fillings to heat-sensitive chemical foams to vinyl shells pumped with air.

• Conventional mattress types

• Why not a conventional mattress?

• Mattress Morgue

Health Effects. What’s in your mattress? The Washington Post reported that “….Of the nearly 80,000 chemicals regularly bought and sold today, according to the National Academy of Sciences, fewer than 10% have been tested for their capacity to cause cancer or do other damage." Dust mites, also common in mattresses, trigger asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 

• Chemicals

• Allergens 

Mattress Performance. What key factors affect your sleep? Surface comfort, the “showroom sensation”, is important. Long-term, it also matters how well a mattress distributes your weight, supports your spine and relieves pressure, and how durable the materials are. 

• Motion transfer

• Pressure points

• Body impressions 

Tricks of the Trade. Are you being “up-sold”? What exactly is “100% natural latex”? What about “organic cotton and wool”? 

• Tricks of the Trade 

…last but not least, we have a large and comprehensive Glossary.