Picture this: You’ve been waking up with a sore back for several days. The pain stays with you for most of the day, ruining your concentration at work. It goes away as soon as you get home, but by this point it’s time to go to bed. You don’t feel sick or funny, so it can’t be a disease. 

Then, as soon as you lie down, an awful creaking sound pierces the quiet night. It finally dawned on you; your old mattress may be to blame.

Mattresses don’t have an expiration date, but tattered seams and creaky springs are clear indicators that they need replacing. Depending on factors such as materials and preferred sleeping position, mattresses have a lifespan between 8 and 10 years. Your next mattress should last just as long, if not longer; after all, you spend a third of the day sleeping.

Technology has extended the lifespan of mattresses with newer materials like memory foam and latex. But, with many choices available, choosing a mattress from stores like The Luxury Bed Co need to be a well-informed decision. At best, you’ll end up choosing between a normal mattress and a luxury one, which differences go beyond the terms themselves. Here are the differences:

1. The Way It Was Made

Simply put, normal mattresses are mass produced, whereas luxury mattresses have tens of hours of handmade love behind them. Mass-produced mattresses are readily available and, at times, can have consistent quality. Handmade mattresses require more time, but because the makers are in control of making them, they adhere to a higher standard of quality.

While luxury beds don’t come cheap compared with normal ones, the investment pays off in the long term. For a luxury mattress with a 10-year lifespan that may cost upwards of £800, a person earning close to the average weekly income can recoup the cost in a couple of weeks. Thanks to the higher standard of quality handmade mattresses follow, it may even last beyond 10 years.

2. What It’s Made Of

The choice of materials doesn’t factor as much in discerning normal from luxury mattresses. The most common notion is that normal mattresses have innerspring coils underneath, but some makers offer luxury mattresses with coils. There also exist normal mattresses made with a combination of coils and memory foam.

For normal mattresses to be affordable, however, they would need to be made from materials that are just as durable. Memory foam and latex were among the chosen as part of the initiative to improve the support of normal mattresses. 

Luxury mattresses, on the other hand, make use of newer materials like natural fibre and gel-based substances (though they also employ memory foam and latex). The aim is to make the mattress as breathable as possible, so that the back doesn’t feel too hot while sleeping.

3. How Big It Needs to Be

Not all beds are made the same, which is where the luxury mattress has the edge. 

Mass-produced mattresses usually follow a prescribed list of bed sizes, ranging from small single (2’6” x 6’3”) to large emperor size (7’0” x 7’0”). They will perfectly fit on a bed made to any of these specifications, but probably not on a custom-made one. 

While they can be made according to the standardized bed sizes, luxury mattress can also be made to order. They’re not as restricted to the bed sizes, given information on the dimensions of the bed the mattress will be fitted to. They can also be made into various shapes.

How to Choose

Now that you have an idea about the difference between normal and luxury mattresses, there’s just one more thing to do before choosing a mattress. Ask yourself the hardest questions regarding the way you need to sleep.

• Are you currently over 40 years old?
• Do you have existing back or joint pain?
• If female, are you currently pregnant?
• Have you been sleeping on the same mattress for more than 10 years?
• How do you sleep: to the front, on the side, or on your back?
• What is your current weight? 
• Are you trying to lose weight?
• Are you willing to spend extra in exchange for a good night’s sleep?

Sleep is the human body’s preferred method of recovery. Even as you enjoy your dreams, the body gets to work repairing any damage it has incurred. If sleep itself were to induce pain, it defeats the entire notion of sleep. For this, you would want a mattress that will give you worry-free nights—even if it would cost you extra.