Which Mattress for an older person

As you may or may not know I was a nurse for a long time before joining the family company to allow me to spend more time with my children. I spent a lot of this time on night duty and found that older people woke more often during the night. This is due to many reasons, one is older people spend less time in the 3rd and 4th stages of sleep which is the deep sleep part of the sleeping cycle, therefore the slightest disturbance whether that be light, noise, or turning over can easily wake the person. Also older people may find it more difficult to get comfortable, feel the cold more, or find pain and discomfort on movement.

I don't have a magical solution, however choosing the right mattress can help dramatically.

If you are an older person, or you are helping to buy a new mattress for an older relative and are worrying that they will not be able to take the mattress up the stairs, please don't as we do this for them. Sleepland Beds offer our own inhouse two man delivery service, so you know that you can trust the people entering your home. They are also polite and respectful. They will take the mattress to the room of choice, and if explained that the person is unable to, and if requested they will unwrap and place on the bed.

So which mattress is the best for an older person?. I am a strong advocate of a good quality foam mattress for older people who have sleeping difficulties, whether this be memory, latex or reflex foam. This is not only because of the comfort, the health benefits are related to what many older people need in a new mattress.

We have a mattress and full divan bed called the Mammoth which is a medical grade foam. This is either a full foam mattress or with pocket springs, it is amazingly comfortable and perfect for anyone, it is beneficial in other ways for sportspeople, an older person, or anyone in pain or with a disability. This is only available in our Cheshire highstreet store, it's not available anywhere online. 

One of the reasons we turn over during the night is to relieve pressure on joints. With a foam mattress (if it's a good quality one) circulation is increased, and therefore pressure relief is given. If an older person finds turning over painful or difficult, as the need to turn over is lessened a better quality sleep can be given. Also if an older person is at risk of pressure sores, prevention is helped with a foam mattress, however if they are, don't buy one, you need to seek medical advice from a doctor and a tissue viability nurse.

Please, please be careful as there are a lot of inferior memory foam mattresses out there, and can cause more problems for an older persons comfort and pressure relief. And some memory foam mattress you can sink in so deep you feel so hot and turning over is a major event, or the opposite end of the scale too firm.

Which memory foam mattress, you sell lots?

We sell a lot of excellent memory foam mattresses, however my personal recommendation if choosing a memory foam mattress for an older person is the Sleepshaper Mattress or Healthbeds latex or memory foam. The Sleepshaper memory foam mattress has won the Which best buy mattress accolade for two years running, and Healthbeds came top in two catagories and beat many well know brands that cost an awful lot more.

Each Sleepshaper mattress is available in a choice of firmness, so an older person can choose their preference. I would recommend for a lighter person either a soft or medium tension for more comfort. Also the Sleepshaper mattress have a choice of Outlast® fabric, a lot of older people feel the cold more or less commonly the opposite feel too warm. Outlast® absorbs heat when you create it and releases heat when you need it. Therefore the older person will feel just right all night. Even if you don't choose Outlast® the memory foam in Sleepshaper mattresses is the best you can get and at 55kg density their is more airflow and it doesn't get too warm.

If a full bed is needed Sleepshaper do a range of divan or frame bases to complement the mattress, including the Mammoth mentioned above.

If you would prefer not to have foam, an excellent quality pocket sprung mattress such as the Pashmina or Affinity are excellent choices and many other pocket sprung mattresses are good choices. I wouldn't however reccommend a firm mattress.

A final note from me, I have written this as if you are a relative of an older person. This is because we have many caring relatives who buy mattresses for older members of their families. However, more and more older people are using the internet, and I don't mean any offence, and when writing my article doing it for the third and first person didn't read very well.

If you have any questions on choosing a mattress for an older person, or need to discuss your requirements please do not hesitate to contact our friendly team, we don't mind if you don't buy one off us. No pushy salespeople, that's my promise.