The mattress landscape has evolved to include more choices than ever before. From advanced foam advancements to sleep sensors, mattresses can now be customized for your specific sleeping needs.

Traditional innerspring constructions have also come a long way, replacing interlocking coils with pocketed coils that are individually encased in fabric and move independently of one another. This helps minimize motion disturbance for restful sleep.

1. Gel Memory Foam

Memory foam, developed in the 1960s by NASA for space shuttle seats and crash protection, conforms to your unique sleep shape and helps promote spinal alignment. However, it can trap body heat and lead to overheating.

Gel-infused memory foam mattresses offer cooling properties that address these issues. Some have a thermal gel layer that absorbs and lowers trapped body heat, while others are infused with phase changing gel, which changes from solid to liquid when it gets hot.

These cooling materials help your mattress breathe better, reducing the sagging problem that can occur with traditional memory foam. They also spring back faster, so you won’t feel stuck in one position and can change positions easily. However, gel-infused memory foam can be more expensive than traditional memory foam.

This article on Manchester Evening News discusses the findings of a SupaTrust analysis on memory foam mattresses, revealing top-rated brands based on over 20,000 UK mattress reviews. The analysis covers various aspects, including sleep quality, comfort, and specific issues like back and hip pain. The article aims to guide readers in making informed decisions when choosing a memory foam mattress.

2. Airflow Foam

A mattress’s airflow is crucial for both comfort and durability. This is especially true for medical airflow mattresses, which work to prevent pressure injuries and bedsores.

Foam mattresses use a variety of materials, including traditional memory foam (which molds to the shape of the body and takes pressure off joints), open-cell foam with gel microbeads that help dissipate heat, and plant-based foam, which is an eco-friendly alternative.

All of these materials promote breathability and cooling. They also help to minimize motion transfer, which is beneficial for preventing one partner’s movements from disturbing the other’s sleep. This is especially important for patients who need to wake up frequently for medication or care. This is made possible by a unique process called Celliant, which converts body heat into infrared energy. This technology allows the mattress to heat and cool as needed, promoting the most comfortable sleep possible.

3. Smart Mattresses

Smart mattresses are designed to fine-tune comfort and provide personalized sleep data. They typically include in-built technology that can be controlled via a smartphone or other smart home device.

They can track your movements, heart rate and breathing to estimate your sleeping patterns and stages. This enables you to optimize your sleep as a part of an overall wellness routine.

Smart beds also have adjustable settings, allowing you to customize firmness levels in precise increments. This can help alleviate pain from musculoskeletal conditions or chronic discomfort. Some models are compatible with voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, making them a convenient way to control your bed using just your voice. They can even support specialized features that elevate your head to reduce snoring and acid reflux. They can also detect and identify early indicators of health issues, such as increased heart rate or breathlessness.

4. Sleep Sensors

Tracking your sleep patterns can help improve your overall health and wellness. Whether you use a wearable sleep sensor like a wristband or rings, an under-the-mattress device that detects vibrations, or even a smart mattress with built-in sleep tracking technology, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Some wearable trackers measure more directly, such as a wristband or ring that monitors heart rate and breathing and uses an in-house algorithm to interpret the data. Others, such as Google Nest’s Sleep tracker, use miniature radar to passively detect snoring and body movement.

Non-wearable sleep trackers that rest on or under the mattress collect a variety of data from different sources and can provide a more holistic picture of your sleeping habits. They’re also compatible with most mattresses and may include other features such as white noise playing and temperature control.

5. Smart Bases

Smart Bases are an essential piece of any mattress and take the sleep experience to new heights. Using advanced sensors to monitor bio, sleep and bedroom data the base can then adjust automatically to optimize comfort. It also tracks and responds to snoring by quietly elevating the head without waking either the snorer or their partner.

It’s also designed to fit with your existing bedroom furniture, with adjustable legs that can be shortened or extended for a perfect fit and even a zero clearance option to work with platform beds. It can be controlled from the app or remotely and features head and foot positioning, lumbar support, pre-programed settings like Zero-Gravity (elevates the head and feet to closely simulate weightlessness) and Anti-Snore, Pillow Tilt and 2-Zone Massage.

6. Coils

Coils have a unique shape that can allow for increased conductivity. They can also provide a great amount of heat transfer to encourage better sleep. The zig-zagging design allows for more exposure to untreated air, allowing the coil to absorb more heat.