Mattresses have become so technological – some are even based on research from the US space agency NASA – that they now sometimes go by the name ‘sleep systems’.
The consensus is that a cheap mattress is indeed a false economy – spending, say, less than £200 is almost certainly not going to ensure a good night’s sleep unless you are very young, very light and frequently sleeping somewhere else.
Cheap mattresses also need replacing more often, perhaps as frequently as every two years. Spend a bit extra, say, more than £800, and you should not need to change the mattresses for 10 years, or, in the most luxurious pocket spring cases, spend over £1500 and the mattress could last up to 25 years.
Spend as much as you can afford. The minimum should be about £700 on the mattress and bed base combined. It seems absurd that people will spend £3,000 or £4,000 on a sofa which they sit on for an hour or two some evenings, and much less than £1,000 on a bed where they will spend a crucial eight hours every night. Prioritise your sleep as it is an essential part of living a wholesome life. Once you have fixed the budget, the next priority is looking for the right kind of support.
