One size doesn’t fit all

When it comes to mattress shopping, it’s time to think outside the box

By WP BrandStudio

Direct-to-consumer start-ups have transformed how many Americans shop. Consumers can now get just about anything — from eyeglasses and razors to pet toys and mattresses — delivered to their doorsteps, straight from the brand. Eight out of 10 shoppers now say they expect to make at least one purchase from a direct-to-consumer company in the near future.

There are arguments to be made for the model. By cutting out traditional retailers, direct-to-consumer brands say, they can offer better prices. But what are consumers giving up in return?

Nowhere is that question more critical than the place we get our rest: in the bedroom. Direct-to-consumer mattress brands have proliferated in the past decade, allowing shoppers to place an order online and get a one-size-fits-all solution, like a bed — delivered in a box — at their doorsteps.

These marketers claim their solutions are superior. But are they really? Americans spend a whopping 33 years in their beds over the course of their lives. And mattresses are a crucial aspect of overall sleep health.

“Everyone needs a different feel and support experience,” says Alanda Tar, senior bed specialist with Tempur-Pedic. “With these bed-delivered-in-a-box companies, you’re taking a gamble that what you’re getting is how they have spun it on their website.”

The importance of a great mattress

A third of Americans don’t get enough sleep, which can have profound health consequences, affecting everything from a person’s stress levels day-to-day to their risk for chronic disease. But getting sufficient sleep — and ensuring that sleep is high-quality — requires a multi-pronged approach.

“There are a lot of things that affect our sleep,” says Washington D.C.-area based sleep consultant Christine Stevens. “You have factors like exercise levels, stress, nutrition, and timing. And the sleep environment is a really big piece of it.”

It is important to sleep in a cool, dark, and quiet room, Stevens says. It is also essential to have a mattress that not only supports the body throughout the night, night after night, but also helps with temperature regulation. People sleep best when the temperature in the room and the microclimate formed between their body, bedding, and mattress is between 65 and 70 degrees.

“It is so important that we are able to regulate our core body temperatures well when we are sleeping, but that is one thing that will mess with our sleep hormones,” explains Jenni June, a Los Angeles-based sleep hygiene and behavioral sleep expert. “The mattress needs to be breathable, and it needs to be cool.”

With so much at stake for our ability to get restorative rest, do trendy bed-delivered-in-a-box brands live up to the hype?

Direct-to-consumer doesn’t always mean direct-from-the-source

Although direct-to-consumer mattress companies may appear to make shopping easy and transparent, it can be challenging to know what is really inside the box.

“A lot of those mattresses are not made by people who actually know bedding,” Tar explains. “They are marketers who had a great idea and who went to someone else to manufacture it for them. They cannot make sure that it’s a quality and substantial bed that’s going to last for that particular person, in that environment, over time.”

By contrast, companies like Tempur-Pedic make their own proprietary materials in the U.S. In fact, Tempur-Pedic mattresses are made with a NASA-developed pressure-absorbing material to cushion and support astronauts during lift off and reentry, known as TEMPUR® Material — which is adaptable to not only a person’s unique shape, weight, and alignment needs, but also their temperature. And unlike memory foam, it doesn’t trap your body heat in the bed. The company’s TEMPUR-breeze° mattress lines are made with TEMPUR Material and layers of cooling technology that are designed to help keep you cool all night long.

TEMPUR Material is made domestically, so consumers can rest easy knowing their mattress hasn’t been sitting in a box for a long time after being shipped from overseas.

“We pour our own visco-elastic materials, cut our own materials, and manufacture the components all right here in the United States,” Tar says.

Ready to shop? Here’s where to start

Wondering whether you’re due for a mattress upgrade? To start, consider how long you’ve owned yours. The Better Sleep Council recommends that consumers replace their mattresses roughly every seven years.

“If you’re finding that you sleep restless because you’re uncomfortable — or even that your bed is just not as quite as comfortable as it used to be, that can be another indicator that it might be time to look into a new mattress,” Stevens says.

If you are ready to shop, Tar recommends asking yourself two questions: “How do I sleep right now?” and “how do I want to sleep?” Maybe you sleep on your back every night because that’s most comfortable, but maybe you’d really prefer to settle in on your side.

Then test, test, test. Curl up on the mattress in the position you want to sleep in for 10 minutes, 20 minutes — or even longer. You can ask for some space to do this so you feel more comfortable. Go multiple times if you can. Bring your bed partner, if you have one, and talk about what you like and anything you don’t like.

Taking that time to truly try before you buy is one of the keys to a good night’s rest — and it is where bed-delivered-in-a-box companies fall short.

“When you purchase a car, you don’t just go and pick one off the lot or have one delivered to your place. You test drive it. You make sure the ride’s comfortable. You make sure it handles well,” says June.

Watch the video below to learn more about how Tempur-Pedic’s breeze° collection can help you achieve cooler, deeper sleep all-night long.