Sleep Week: Guide to choosing the best mattress | 7 On Your Side
NEW YORK (WABC) -- It is National Sleep Awareness Week, a time to assess how we can all get better rest to help our mental and physical health.
Because what's more important than a good night's sleep, right?
I spent some time literally lying down on the job with The Dream Queen, a professional sleeper who gets paid to rate and review the best mattresses and bed time products.
7 On Your Side learned about testing techniques and how to find the best nest for you and your wallet.
As an official mattress tester for "Wirecutter," the New York Times' product review site, Caira Blackwell gets to do a lot of jumping around, sitting down and lying about at work.
Her sleep beat involves some serious downtime testing out various beds to see how they stack up.
Her expert advice: when it comes to where you'll spend a full third of your entire life, don't cheap out.
"You can find a mattress for under $500, if you have cheap materials the mattress will tend to sag more quickly, whereas if you have a nicer built mattress, it'll hopefully last you a decade," Blackwell said.
Before you make an investment, pick the right mattress for how you sleep.
"For side sleeping, I would really recommend a softer mattress, something that will hold up your shoulders and your side because that's what's going to sink in deepest into the mattress," said Blackwell. "If you're sleeping on your stomach, it's a bit more difficult because you need to be flat on your stomach."
Finally, Blackwell says back sleeping is the best for you and your heart.
"You're really looking for something to uplift your hips so your hips aren't sinking it," she said, so a medium to medium firm mattress is best.
In other mattress tips, a foam mattress will mold around your body and can make you feel like you are lying in a hole, while a spring or coil mattress is bouncier.
And then there's the hybrid, which gives you a combination of spring and foam.
Blackwell gives the edge of every bed a test.
"If you live in a tight space, the edge of your bed can be precious real estate," she said. "I don't want to feel like I'm going to fall off the mattress if I'm too close to the edges."
When you are shopping for beds, look for retailers who offer exchanges.
P.C. Richard and Son, for example, has a 90-night sleep guarantee for a one-time re-selection of a new mattress if you're not satisfied with the one you picked.
Since we spend an average of 26 years of our lives sleeping, what could be more important than choosing the best mattress?
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