Mattresses really do matter. When it comes to your health and happiness, your mattress may be the most important furnishing in your home. (Some may argue for the coffee pot, but that coffee tastes a lot better when you wake up from a good night’s sleep!) The right mattress supports your body, reduces the likelihood of backaches and promotes restful sleep so that you can perform at your best during your waking hours.

Fortunately, mattresses keep getting better and better! Construction is constantly improving, technology is optimizing our sleep and the best modern mattresses limit their environmental footprint. Here are some ways today’s mattresses are making those precious ZZZs better and more accessible.

Sleeping Smart

Everything is getting smarter these days, from our phones to our TVs to our refrigerators, and mattresses are no exception. It used to be that if you wanted details about your sleep quality, you had to visit a sleep clinic. Now, with the Tempur-Pedic Sleeptracker, you can obtain a wealth of personal sleep information every night from the comfort of your own bed! It will tell you how long you slept, how long you lay awake, your breathing and heart rate, how much time you spent in each sleep cycle and even whether you snored! (Though your partner may already keep you well informed on the latter.)

It can relax you with white noise or selections from iTunes. Sleeptracker learns more about your sleep patterns as it goes and gets better and better at offering tailored insights and advice. There’s nothing you have to wear, and it can be integrated into an adjustable base or used with a standard foundation.

Another smart sleep choice is King Koil’s Smartlife. In this solution, the intelligence is built right into the smart mattress. 80 smart cells, controlled by thousands of algorithms, monitor the position of your body and respond by adjusting the mattress. As you shift during the night, Smartlife reacts to what you’re doing and moves with you.

Smartlife maintains customized support not only for an individual but also for two people sharing a bed! The available app provides a comprehensive sleep report, and it can even be set to wake you in the morning with a gentle rolling motion. A wake-up by this best smart mattress certainly beats the screech of an alarm clock!

Sleeping on Latex

There are many available mattress materials, but it’s hard to beat latex for comfort and durability! Latex is a natural material produced from the sap of tapped rubber trees. The process doesn’t harm the trees, and they can deliver sap for up to 30 years!

A latex mattress has two to four layers of latex foam, and the layers can be made of natural latex, synthetic latex or hybrid latex. While natural latex is the eco ideal, hybrid latex is also an environmentally responsible choice that gives you most of the advantages of its more expensive cousin! Just consider all of the excellent qualities a mattress made with latex has to offer for healthy sleep.

• Latex is comfortable and supporting. It cradles heavy hips and shoulders, and its natural elasticity supports your neck and back for spinal health. It’s especially soothing for folks with back and joint pain!
• Latex is antimicrobial. It repels undesirable microorganisms, thus keeping the mattress sanitary and protecting sleepers who suffer from allergies.
• Natural latex is chemical-free, and hybrid latex minimizes chemical use. Chemicals are known to cause mattress off-gassing, which can be irritating to people with asthma and other respiratory issues.
• Latex is breathable. Its open-cell structure promotes continuous airflow. Its multiple layers contain pinholes that keep restorative air moving.
• Latex is durable. It outlasts other mattress materials, and its lifespan can be as long as 20 years!
• Latex is eco-friendly. Natural latex doesn’t harm the trees it’s taken from. It’s also biodegradable, reducing stress on landfills.

Sleeping Green

There’s continued emphasis on products with a minimal environmental footprint, and several mattress manufacturers are stepping up to do their part. Increased use of natural latex is only part of the picture! The greenest mattresses are made from natural materials, manufactured using low-impact processes and can be disposed of with limited environmental cost.

For example, Tempur-Pedic achieved zero-landfill waste for U.S. and European manufacturing in 2022 and is on track for global carbon neutrality by 2040. King Koil has raised the bar with their PureBliss line featuring a natural Talalay latex core. PureBliss latex was awarded the OKEO-Tex Standard 100 certification, which considers the environmental impact of every step of the manufacturing process. It assures you that no harmful substances were utilized and that the latex is safe for human health.

Great sleep and green sleep aren’t mutually exclusive! When you choose a modern eco-friendly mattress, you can sleep comfortably in more ways than one! Healthful sleep, beneficial technology, environmental responsibility: they’re all available in 2023’s great new mattresses. If you’re waking up tired and sore, maybe it’s time to upgrade your sleeping experience. With one of these choices, you’ll find yourself pleasantly dreaming on the mattress of your dreams!