How we Score and Test Mattress Comfort

A good night's sleep is essential for our overall health and well-being. Therefore, we prioritize providing you with the utmost care to ensure you get the most comfortable sleep possible. To achieve this, we equip you with enough tests and results to make your own informed decision.

However, a common concern for most sleepers is mattress comfort. With a vast selection of mattresses offering endless options, finding the perfect one for you can be overwhelming.

At Sleepiverse, we believe everyone deserves a good night's sleep. That's why we've developed a comprehensive mattress comfort testing methodology. Our process equips you with the knowledge to make a confident decision, potentially saving you time, money, and frustration.

The Diverse Needs of Sleepers

It's crucial to know that there's no one-size-fits-all mattress. What you find comfortable might not be for another sleeper. This is because everyone defines "comfort" based on different aspects. For example, some might prioritize softness, while others value support and firmness.

That's why it's important to determine your sleeping style and preferences before assessing yourself through our methodology and results. Start by figuring out whether you're a side, back, or stomach sleeper. Then, knowing your weight (or at least a weight range) will be helpful. You'll see why this information is crucial for making informed decisions based on our results later in this article.

How We Test and Evaluate Mattress Comfort

Testing and evaluating mattress comfort is not an easy or simple task. It involves multiple steps, all of which are crucial to ensuring the results are as accurate and generalizable as possible to suit a wide range of sleepers.

1) Gather a Group of Diverse Reviewers

This is the foundation of our comfort testing process. We start by assembling a team of reviewers with a variety of body types, sleep styles, and preferences. This diversity ensures we capture a broader range of sleeper needs. Additionally, it emphasizes how subjective comfort is and how difficult it is for a single person to evaluate.

2) Conduct Detailed Comfort Testing

This is the core of our testing process. We have our reviewers take naps on the mattress in various sleeping positions for equal time intervals. We ensure a controlled environment by testing all sleepers equally and eliminating external factors that could skew the results, such as noise or extreme room temperature.

Pressure relief is another key aspect assessed during comfort testing. Since both comfort and pressure relief are specific evaluations, the insights gained here contribute to even more precise results in our dedicated pressure relief test.

3) Apply a Standard Rating System

Once all reviewers have completed their testing, we begin by collecting their detailed feedback. This feedback focuses on comfort in various positions: how comfortable they felt, how they would describe their comfort experience, and any discomfort they experienced, including whether it stemmed from the mattress or simply wasn't a good fit for their sleeping style.

Based on this collective feedback, we categorize and analyze it to generate general results. We then assign a rating using a five-point scale. This process ensures accuracy, reliability, and lack of bias in our results. We'll discuss the details of each rating point and categorization later in this article.

How We Categorize Sleepers

To ensure our mattress reviews are relevant to a wide range of sleepers, we categorize them based on several factors. This allows readers to find results that closely match their characteristics.

Our categorization system consists of two primary factors: weight range and sleeping style. Which are explained in detail below.

Lightweight Sleepers (Under 150 lb)

• Back Sleepers: Lightweight back sleepers usually find most mattresses comfortable. However, as a general rule, they'd prefer a mattress that offers a balance between softness and firmness to maintain spinal alignment.
• Side Sleepers: Lightweight side sleepers generally need a soft and plush mattress to cushion their hips and shoulders. A soft mattress provides the ideal balance of support and cushioning for their body type.
• Stomach Sleepers: Generally, stomach sleepers need a firm mattress, however, when it comes to lighter stomach sleepers, a very firm mattress may not be the most comfortable. A medium-firm mattress is just ideal to provide enough support.

Average Weight Sleepers (150 – 250 lb)

• Back Sleepers: Average back sleepers typically find comfort on a variety of mattresses. However, the mattress should provide enough support to maintain spinal alignment. Thus, a medium-firm mattress would be ideal.
• Side Sleepers: For average side sleepers, they require a mattress that provides good pressure relief and support with enough softness to alleviate pressure points.
• Stomach Sleepers: Average stomach sleepers need a firm mattress to prevent their hips from sinking in. Thus, the ideal mattress should provide optimum support and minimal sinkage.

Above-average-weight Sleepers (Over 250 lb)

• Back Sleepers: Heavy back sleepers need a mattress with reinforced support to ensure proper spinal alignment and minimize sinkage. While firmness isn't the sole factor, a supportive mattress is crucial.
• Side Sleepers: Heavy side sleepers require a mattress that excels in both pressure relief and support. This means providing cushioning for the hips and shoulders without sacrificing overall spinal alignment.
• Stomach Sleepers: Heavy stomach sleepers will need a very firm mattress to prevent excessive sinkage and provide the desired spinal alignment. They find very good comfort in mattresses that combine strong support with minimal softness, maintaining the body's natural posture during sleep.

What Our Ratings Mean

Our ratings reflect the overall comfort and support a mattress provides for a specific sleeping position and weight range, based on the feedback gathered during our testing process. Here's a breakdown of our five-point scale:

• Bad: The mattress fails to provide adequate comfort and support for this sleeping style and weight range.
• Fair: The mattress meets the sleeper's basic needs but has significant drawbacks.
• Good: The mattress offers a decent level of comfort and support, but has some minor issues.
• Very Good: The mattress performs well in terms of comfort and support, with minimal room for improvement.
• Excellent: The mattress excels in comfort and support, perfectly meeting all the sleeper's needs with no drawbacks.

The Test Results

Following a detailed explanation of our testing process, we present the results in a comprehensive table format that allows for easy comparison across different sleeper types.

The table below clearly illustrates our sleeper categorization system. Each cell displays a corresponding rating based on our five-point scale, which we explained earlier.

Conclusion

Based on our mattress reviews and research methodology, we provide detailed and transparent information about each mattress, helping you make informed decisions without needing to assess them in person.

Our comfort testing methodology offers all sleepers a general idea of how well-suited a mattress might be for them by ensuring you receive unbiased and objective information about each mattress's performance.