Comfort Vs. Support : What's Important?
Every person who's woken up from a restless night's sleep is aware of the worst thing ever: a lack of support from their mattress!
And yet, people also know the pain from waking up from a rock-hard mattress, or an overstuffed couch: comfort can contribute just as much to a poor night's sleep!
So,
What's more important?
Comfort is defined as a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. With a mattress, comfort has defined a combination of things. Firmness, quilt top, and even the type of material can change the feel, and how much you like it!
Support, on the other hand, is defined as bearing all or part of the weight of; or to hold up. In order to keep your body in tip-top shape, we need full rest. Our body can only rest when our body is relaxed. A tense body will not allow full blood flow, which will not allow sore muscles or the daily injuries from life, to fully heal.
Support
Support is offered by many parts of a bed. Usually, the supportive layers are among the first layers of the mattress. Whether it's coiled, springs. latex, or some hybrid of them, we're here to talk about how each of these can feel and how each of them provides support!
Coils & springs
There are various types of coils and springs!
First, we'll talk about what to look for in your coils, no matter the type and style. There are two things to look for. Coil gauge, or thickness, and the number of turns these coils have!
Thickness can relate to durability, thicker being more durable, but thinner coils can shift and react to changes in weight better!
However, the shape and type of coil can affect support and comfort more!
The first coil we'll talk about is pocketed coils! These are the most common today, with multiple smaller coils wrapped in fabric. These 'sleeves' are able to react very easily to changes in weight, easily contouring to the body.
Secondly, there are continuous wire coils, constructed by a single wire! This is a nice, simple design, that's very supportive and inexpensive!
Third, there are bonell coils! Bonells have an hourglass shape, wider on the top and bottom, with a thin middle. The middle is hypersensitive to weight changes, flexing often, while the top and bottom are more resistant. Every coil in the bed is connected to each other, providing good edge support, but making these coils prone to sagging, squeaking, and not adjusting as well to changes on the bed as other coil types might.
All in all, there are many different types of coils that might be in your bed, and you should familiarize yourself with them in order to find what will give you the best support and comfort!
comfort
Comfort is affected by many things. Latex comes in a variety of firmnesses. Whether you like something hard as a rock, or something soft as a cloud, comfort does not mean that you will not be getting support.
In fact, even the quilt top can affect how it feels. A tight quilt top can result in a bouncy, tense feeling. A looser one can result in more of a more relaxed feel.
There can even be bonus layers on top, solely for comfort and giving you the best feeling! Soft, or hard, whatever you like, there's something for you!
In summary
In summary, there are many factors about latex mattresses, but comfort and support do not mean that you can't get the best mattress and the best sleep of your life!