Sustainable and healthy
Both practical and comfortable, a latex mattress is derived from the sap of rubber trees. This cushioning material is non-toxic, producing no noxious gases in manufacture, resistant to dust mites and great for sensitive skin and allergies. This is because of latex’s anti microbe and hypo-allergenic qualities.

As an added benefit, the breathable nature of a latex mattress means your sleeping temperature is regulated so you don’t get too hot or too cold. With exceptional comfort and all these pros, it’s not hard to see why latex mattresses are tipped to sell in the 2010.

You may want to curl up tight on your mattress to keep warm this winter, but poor posture in bed could leave you feeling less than rejuvenated on the cold mornings.

Watch your position

Poor posture could be the one factor seriously affecting your sleep. You can have bought a comfortable, spacious king size mattress and have a dark, silent bedroom of perfect temperature, but if your back if crooked while you sleep you won’t be feeling the real benefits.

Posture-related muscle pain usually results from two main areas: the spine and the limbs. The usual S-shaped arc of the spine should be retained during sleep, and unnatural back positions can cause difficulties. Secondly, the position of your arms and legs can impact your overall body position on your mattress, with many people ‘closing themselves in’ with their arms and legs or twisting themselves.

Mattresses for your back

So, think about your sleeping position as you drift off, and consider buying a memory foam mattress to reduce contact pressure and remember the good sleeping position for you!

Mattress24 is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of mattresses. To see our full range of mattresses visit Mattress24.co.uk.

The king mattress brands

Silentnight and Sealy are the most well-known brands largely due to distinctive developments within their mattresses.

The Silent night mattress Miracoil spring technology utilises around twice the number of springs contained within most other mattresses and has a ‘Posture Zone’ of denser springs for a firmer support of the weighty lumbar section of the back. Of course, it also helps that they are advertised by a cute duck and hippo combination!

Sealy’s technology combines layers of comfort material, such as memory foam and latex, reducing the force upon contact pressure points across the body. The reduced pressure on joints reduces sleepers’ urge to toss and turn during the night, resulting in a better sleep quality.

Unbranded mattresses

Unbranded mattresses do not mean poorer quality. There are a huge number of great, professional mattress producers in the UK that don’t have a recognisable name, and when you’re not spending money on brand advertising you can achieve superb quality at great value.

The Posture Perfect range is exclusive to Mattress24.co.uk, and will help you if you have difficulty sleeping. With a 30 day Better Sleep Guarantee you can be confident in the value of the mattress. The Lazy Days exclusive selection will help you find luxury and comfort without the huge price tag.

These unbranded mattresses feature cutting-edge mattress technology, but don’t have the big brand name. Which would you choose? Whatever your preference, the huge selection available at Mattress 24 will ensure you get your top choice delivered the very next day!

The high street might not be quite so busy Christmas thanks to the financial climate, and Mattress 24 advise shopping for your mattress online to save money!

As many shops struggle during the recession, online traders are flourishing thanks to low overheads. When costs are low, savings can be passed directly to the consumer – you.

Sealy and Silent Night mattresses on a budget

If you’re on a shoestring budget, online mattress stockists like Mattress24.co.uk can find firm and soft mattress choices that you simply won’t see in shops. If you’re looking for amazing comfort, the lower costs online will enable you to take a step up to high level materials, big brands like Sealy and Silent Night, and bigger sizes.

Mattress shop in comfort!

You don’t need to waste money on transport to an out-of-town bed or mattress superstore when shopping online. You can stay cosy in front of the TV and choose from at least double the amount of mattresses you’d find on a shop floor. And with free next day delivery available across the range at Mattress 24, you’ll be sleeping comfy in no time without the hassle of getting your mattress home.

Mattress 24: Leading online mattresses supplier

If you’ve decided to buy a new mattress, then Mattress24.co.uk are among the UK’s leading suppliers of mattresses. With a huge range in stock at great prices, there is something for everyone. For expert mattress advice call on 0870 726 2424 or email sales@mattress24.co.uk.

Back pain caused by overuse and injury, often through sports, can become even worse if subjected to a firm mattress. Individuals with back pain should have their back supported, especially in affected areas, by a mattress that moulds to the shape of the back.

Mattress firmness is really a consideration for a person’s weight – larger and heavier people will require firm mattresses to give adequate support for their size, and ensure areas where body weight is concentrated are not too ‘sunken’. Lighter individuals would benefit from a soft mattress option as they will compress the mattress less.

Mattress with more springs

As opposed to varying mattress softness for back pain, you would benefit from increasing the amount of springs. Pocket sprung mattresses, and mattresses from brands like Sealy and Silentnight, offer a more springs and increased support for the entire body. Every mattress spring provides an area of support, and more springs mean the mattress is more adaptive to your body and spine.

To discuss your mattress needs and see a wide range of supportive mattresses, whether for back pain or not, visit mattress24.co.uk or call 0870 726 2424.

Dust mites prefer a hot, humid atmosphere – exactly what we provide underneath our duvets during the night. The mattress mites live off our dead skin cells, of which we produce almost six grams each and every night. In fact a study has shown that around a tenth of the weight of a two-year-old pillow can be skin, dust mites and their faeces. Still looking forward to getting your head down?

It’s the faeces of the dust mites that provide the real problem. Many individuals are allergic to them, and numbers seem to be rising. An allergy will display itself through ‘cold-like’ symptoms including watery eyes and nose in addition to difficulty breathing and potentially skin afflictions in infants. Here’s how to reduce the likelihood of being affected:

1. Don’t make your bed

It seems odd, but trapping air beneath a carefully-laid duvet and mattress just helps provide the nice warm environment dust mites love. Instead, fold back your duvet and let air circulate around the rest of the bed, ideally combined with good ventilation into the bedroom.

2. Wash your linen well

Wash your sheets and bed covers every fortnight and use a high temperature. This should help to kill the mites, however if you’ve got a large freezer put the linen in for a day to freeze them dead! Don’t forget to give your mattress a good vacuum to help to suck the mites out there too.

3. Protect your mattress

Try putting an extra protective layer on your bed on which mites cannot survive. These sheet-like mattress protectors stop mites living on them, providing a barrier between the mites and your body.

Q: How do I know if I’m buying good quality memory foam?

The best memory foam tends to be more dense. This quality also means it is likely to resist wear better.

Q: Will sleeping on memory foam make me too hot?

Memory foam requires heat to shape itself, however early iterations of the memory foam mattress technology retained heat close to the sleeper, causing higher sleeping temperature. Modern innovations in ‘air exchange’ technology disperse heat away from the body, resulting in a comfortable sleeping temperature.

Q: Can I use a mattress topper?

It’s not advisable to use any form of topper on top of memory foam, as it reduces the ability of the foam to mould to your shape using your body heat.

Q: Do you drop into a ‘body-shaped gap’ after the mattress has formed to your shape?

No, the body heat that moulds the memory foam heats the rest of the mattress, resulting in the material at your side becoming more supple and moving away from you in a similar fashion. As such, you don’t create a significant ‘hole’.

Q: How thick should my memory mattress be?

This is really down to individual comfort, much like the preferred softness of a mattress. The thickness also depends upon the number of layers and construction of the mattress, as most will have a layer of memory foam on top of springs or another material. Think about the softness you prefer and ask Mattress 24 for advice on 0870 726 2424.

The Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service has found that the positions we unconsciously adopt while asleep on our mattresses can disclose information about our personal.

The study also found that sleeping on your front may help you sleep better. You may not need a new mattress after all – just sleeping on your front can help digestion, reduced snoring and improve sleep quality!

Sleeping positions: the Meanings

Curled up

Sleeping in a curled ‘foetal position’ is the most widely adopted arrangement for sleepers. These people are thought to be sensitive but with hard exteriors, becoming more relaxed only as they become more comfortable with people and less shy.

Face up, arms around pillow

The position least used in bed, with only five percent adopting it, shows you are likely to be a good listener, friend and helper.

On one side, arms by the side

This position, sometimes called ‘the log’, indicates a laid-back and social nature. People in this group value being part of a popular group, and can be overly trusting.

On one side, arms stretched forward

This ‘yearning’ position can indicate a sceptical and sometimes mistrustful personality, but one that is open natured. These people may find making decisions difficult, but have a certain stubbornness once decided.

On the back, arms by the side

Those who adopt a ‘soldier’ position probably have lofty expectations both of themselves and others, but are reserved and unlikely to cause commotion.

On the front, arms holding pillow

This frontal ‘free fall’ position indicates a very self-confident, somewhat arrogant, but affable personality. They are less happy out of their ‘comfort zone’, and react poorly to any negative reactions regarding on their conduct.

Information about guest mattresses

It’s important to remember that guest mattresses are usually for short-term use by visitors. It is unlikely that they will be using it for a long duration, and in this case they won’t mind that the mattress isn’t absolutely to their tastes and comfort.

So, the best tactic is usually to aim for the mattress ‘middle-ground’ that is most likely to please all potential guests.

Soft or firm mattress?

Don’t buy a very firm mattress, as smaller guests and children will not have sufficient bulk to depress it, making it something like sleeping on the floor! At the other end of the scale an overly soft mattress will not provide enough support to a larger guest.

Springs or memory foam?

Again, choose the option that will please the most people. The foam within memory mattresses can take some to get used to, and guests may not be comfortable in the short term. Therefore, a traditionally sprung mattress would be preferable.

How much to spend?

The amount you spend, and the resultant quality of the mattress, really depends on the amount of use it can expect to get. If you regularly sleep guests on a separate mattress a more expensive choice will ensure that it lasts, whereas if use is very occasional a cheaper option will suffice.

And don’t forget, with online mattress retailer www.mattress24.co.uk you will benefit from our mattresses next-day delivery across the range, so if your guest is arriving soon there’s no need to panic!

In the United Kingdom most people use double mattresses, and it seems that is our preferred size whether we’re single or living alone. However, this isn’t the case across the world, where many nationalities prefer to sleep on a bigger mattress size because of their greater height and weight (for example America).

Mattress size considerations

To ensure you have a mattress that is big enough for you, it ought to be ten centimetres longer than your height. So, if you’re tall you may need a bigger mattress than the five foot eleven inches UK double mattress just to support the length of your body. In this case a king size mattress would be preferable.

If you are sleeping with a partner, you should have sufficient space to neither be hitting the other person nor be resting at the mattress edge. This should be the case even when lying on your back, with your arms on the back of your neck and your elbows sticking out.

You actually need to be relatively thin and not particularly tall to be truly comfortable with a partner on a double mattress, so we recommend moving up to a kingsize mattress if you have the space.

Mattress sizes UK

To help you with your considerations, UK mattress sizes are as follows:

Small single mattress:      2’6 x 6’3
Single mattress:                3’0 x 6’3
Small double mattress:    4’0 x 6’3
Double mattress:              4’6 x 6’3
King size mattress:           5’0 x 6’6
Super King mattress:        6’0 x 6’6