I’ve had the same mattress for more than 10 years now. I literally bought it (new) from a Big Lots store. It’s a Serta Perfect Sleeper Courtland mattress. I’ve been a fat guy for the past 10 years as well, so I’ve definitely put the mattress through its paces. I’ve also had somewhat bad neck pain for several years, usually when I wake up. I’ve tried several different pillows… different brands, different styles, different thicknesses. Nothing has seemed to help.
It occurred to me recently than I’ve stayed to some nice hotels in the past few years, and have slept really well, which made me think that my mattress may be at its End Of Life. Which means, it’s time to start researching. One of the first things I thought of, were all of the ads for mattresses that are delivered to your home, with hundreds of days of “free trial” time, as well as free removal with 100% refund if you aren’t happy. Of course that sounds great! But, what often sounds too good to be true, usually is… and that ‘full refund,’ ‘free removal,’ ‘mattress in a box’ comes with a pretty hefty price tag.
Purple. Nectar. Casper. Avocado. Tuft & Needle. Helix. Tulo. AARRGH! Seriously!? And these are just the “new” mattress companies, not the ones that have been around for years, like Beautyrest, Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Stearns & Foster, and Serta. Yeah… crazy. But, I did get sucked in by the “new technology” and the “364 night free trials,” so I spent some time watching mattress reviews on YouTube and reading websites dedicated to comparing mattresses. I spent several HOURS researching, and ultimately got worn down. Worn down to just stopping, and NOT wanting to buy a new mattress. That was a few weeks ago, and I still have back and neck pain. But do I really want to buy one of these new-fangled, foam-based mattresses, sleep on it for 2 months, then return it and buy another one, and sleep on that for 2 months? No. I don’t.
Today, it hit me. Those hotels where I slept well. I was the same fat guy, but the mattresses were different. So what if I stayed at local hotels, just to test drive the mattress?! So I started looking for lists of hotels that use these ‘new’ mattress companies, to see where I should test drive the mattresses. At this point, I wasn’t having much luck. I’ll keep searching through, or maybe I’ll just start emailing hotels and ask what mattress they use, and book accordingly.
I’m looking forward to sleeping better. And even if it isn’t the mattress, it’s probably time to get a new one anyway.
