The average person spends around 25 years of their life sleeping, although some people spend less and others more. However, looking back over my life to date, I would say that is probably a fair guestimate.
Like many people, I love my bed. By the time I collapse on to my comfortable memory foam mattress, I am so shattered from the demands of a hectic life being mom to five kids, and a constant mountain of laundry to fold, that I am usually asleep before my head touches the pillow. I can sometimes stay awake for a bit longer, but only if there is a good book with my name on it.
A Nice, Comfy Bed
Most mornings I have to be up and out of bed at the crack of dawn. My kids would never get to school if I didn’t get them out of bed in good time. Not that thhe would care of course. At the weekend, I can enjoy a some sleeping in, so it is good to have a nice comfortable bed to relax in while I catch up on my shows and drink a nice cup of hot coffee.
The Lifespan of the Average Mattress
Most mattresses are only designed to last between seven and ten years. My last one was 15 years old by the time I replaced it, and although I had treated it pretty well – the kids were never allowed to treat it as a trampoline – it was well past its best. In the last few years of ownership, my back ached in the mornings and my husband and I usually ended up in the dip in the middle of the mattress. Not good really, so one Saturday, we went mattress shopping with a view to replacing ‘old faithful’.
Mattress Shopping
When mattress shopping, the best approach is to try before you buy. Until you lie on a mattress, you really don’t know whether it is the right fit for you. There are also hundreds of different mattresses to choose from, which makes the choice even more difficult.
Try Before You Buy
So, the day came when we decided to go mattress shopping. We headed out to a bed store to test some mattresses. The sales person gave us a quick run-through of the different types: pocket springs, memory foam, and all kinds of other fancy designs. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for, so we immediately ruled out the cheaper mattresses on the basis I didn’t work all that overtime for nothing.
Lying down on store mattresses is a bit weird, but it makes a lot of sense. No matter how comfy a mattress looks, until you actually lie down on it, you can’t be sure it suits you. I preferred the pocket sprung mattresses whereas hubby liked the memory foam ones. In the end, we compromised. We bought a pocket sprung king mattress and a memory foam topper. Everyone was happy. Especially the kids, who definitely rate the comfort level of their new bed as a 10/10.