Perhaps you no longer feel lulled into sleep, or you bear the ironclad mattress to finally fall asleep every night. Regardless of your reason to ponder the lifespan of your mattress, it is imperative to know the average lifespan too. As most of depending on instincts to upgrade or renew the mattress, it is the time you focused on how long your rugged old mattress has been the culprit of your ill health.
Today, having a multi-purpose mattress is trendy, while mattress aficionados advocate mattresses should cater for sleep alone. The best feature of a mattress is how well it supports the body to enter deep sleep.
Moreover, using a damaged mattress can aggravate backaches and introduces new health issues due to poor sleep posture as well sleep cycle.
Average Lifespan of a Mattress
How many years (5, 8, 10, 15, or 20) should a mattress is used for until it becomes unfit for further use? While most mattresses boast 10 years according to warranties, the health of the mattress is solely dependent on your use. Studies show that each of us spends about 2900 hours or oddly 8 years of our life on the mattress.
The primary cause of back pain in a variety of people owes it to the worn-out mattresses they use. Not only does updating boost your health, but it also helps to dissipate the annoyance of sleepless nights. According to extensive studies, the average lifespan of a standard mattress is unique. While Sleep Outfitters advocate 7 to 10 Years for a mattress, Consumer reports advocate that people above 40 must not use the same mattress for more than 7 years. A mattress lasts as long as it is used well. Oklahoma State University inferred that the sleep cycle was considerably enhanced when a person changed from a neglected mattress to a new mattress after a decade.
If the diverse recommendations confuse you, refer to the in-depth table on how long does a mattress last:
- Futon– 4 to 5 Years
- Innerspring– 6 to 7 Years
- Coil Spring– 8 years
- Memory Foam- 7 to 8 Years
- Latex Mattress– 8 Years
- Water Bed– 8 to 9 Years
- Air Bed– 9 to 10 Years
An easy way to determine the average lifespan of your mattress is to crosscheck with the manufacturer’s warranty. If you are dubious about the health of your mattress even after rummaging the paperwork, your intuition must be the signal that you need a new mattress!
Symptoms of a Bad Mattress
It is not easy to determine if your mattress is ready to be dumped. Being an expensive purchase, trashing a mattress requires appropriate planning, in addition to recognizing the symptoms of an old mattress.
The best way to determine the lifespan of your mattress is by analyzing the following and its effectiveness towards sleep-
Fatigue
The first symptom of sleeping on a beaten-up mattress is morning fatigue. Even though you’ve slept more than enough of your regular sleeping hours, you feel tired. The worn-out feeling owes it to the lack of deep sleep due to the absence of comfort during slumber.
Pain
If you suffer from pains and spasms in your body immediately after waking up, your mattress might be the culprit. As the mattress lacks softness and medium firmness, the sleeper experiences no support during sleep and wakes up with pricking pain.
Reluctance to sleep on one’s own bed
An effective way to determine if your mattress is a pain than balm is by checking whether you prefer places other than your mattress to doze off. If you find comfort sleeping in your car, couch, or best friend’s mattress, it is time to replace your mattress. When you realize that you get a better night’s sleep everywhere other than your mattress, you need new bedding!
A bad mattress is not easy to notice if it is damaged for a long. The best way to diagnose your mattress is by inspecting the evenness on the surface of your mattress.
What are the dangers of using a bad mattress?
Do you wash your mattress equal to the times you wash your clothes? How many times do you wash your mattress? Perhaps you are one of the many that rarely clean their mattresses. Moving on, it is no surprise that none of us genuinely cares or values our mattress.
Why do you need to change your mattress? If you wear your clothes for years at a stretch without washing them, would you be healthy?
Sleeping on a neglected mattress cannot only give you a stiff neck the next day, but also sores, rashes, or allergies!
People who use damaged mattresses wake up with cramps, drowsiness, and body pains. Mattresses are often replenished long after it becomes unusable. These risks pose a direct threat to the physical and mental health of a person.
In addition, if you work from your mattress, the same is why; sweat must be caked on the foam. You must periodically rotate, dust, and clean the mattress to avoid catching infections!
How to Check if you need a new Mattress
If you doubt your mattress’s health, you must weigh and compare the measurement with its initial weight. Often, the shocking weight difference is sufficient to enlighten how pivotal cleaning and maintenance of a mattress is.
Essential factors to determine if you need to buy a new mattress is by inferring-
Age of your Mattress
Every manufacturer lists the warranty or year limit for every mattress. Mostly embroidered as a tag on the blanket, the age limit of the mattress is not always the best answer. If your mattress does not have such a tag, contact your manufacturer and crosscheck with the model number to determine the lifespan of your mattress.
Oftentimes sleep specialists give admonition about using mattresses that are older than 10 years! Depending on the type of mattress you use, the age limit varies.
Quality of your Mattress
The second most important characteristic of a mattress is its make. If you have a low-grade mattress made with cheap foams and springs, it is paradoxical to expect longevity of the mattress, let alone a good night’s sleep.
The worth of your foam determines your health status as well. Moreover, buying a cheap mattress will hike your medical bills while an expensive mattress will be a lifelong investment.
Duration of usage
Synonymous with the age of the mattress, usage of the mattress also differs subjectively. In fact, depending on the hours you spend on the mattress, its lifespan varies. The mattress in your guest room is used sparingly, in comparison with the one in the master bedroom. Noting the difference between the two will make you understand the effect of sleep duration on bedding.
Additionally, depending on the kind of use, for example, if you have a routine of watching TV from the bed, then, surely, your mattress counts double the time you spend sleeping on it. In such cases, the lifespan of the mattress is, reduced by half.
Weight of the users
Yet another important factor that adversely affects the health of your mattress is the weight of the sleepers. Depending on your body weight, select a mattress that can conform to or support your body weight rather than hinder it.
Not all mattresses are built to last a decade when used by hefty people. Always remember to pick your mattress respective to your physique and use it. If you do not, the mattress will break and wear out easily, not to forget newer somnipathies!
Maintenance provided
There are numerous ways to care for a mattress and keep it healthy throughout its use. Provided you are disciplined about how and when you occupy the mattress, the mattress lasts longer.
Exemplifying, if you use a bed cover for the mattress, you add a quarter decade to its life. Depending on whether you let your kids use the mattress as a trampoline, the age of the mattress differs.
Dust mites and Stains
If you are irregular about spring cleaning your mattress, there is a high chance that the mattress is caked with dead cells, sweat, dirt, and ready for dust mites. The same is the primal cause of allergies and skin infections. If you do not clean the mattress regularly, the same can lead to its speedy damage too!
On average, mattresses must be vacuumed 6-12 times per year!
Noisy Mattress
Another notable way to determine if you need a new mattress is by observing how well the mattress functions. If your mattress makes strange noises every time you occupy it or move around, then you need new bedding!
Creaky mattresses are not only annoying to its user but a signal of how close your mattress is towards dying out! If the squeaking is chronic, it is a red sign that it can break at any time. Often, mattresses also creak when the spring within the foam is damaged.
Sagging or Sleep Impression
Lastly, an easy way to judge your mattress is by waking up and checking how well the mattress has preserved the impression of your body. Over time, beddings tend to sag or develop uneven lumps on the sleeping surface. Not only is this irking, but it also disturbs the quality of sleep too.
Ways to Keep your Mattress Clean
When you invest in a mattress worth a few grand, you must also maintain it adequately. Keeping a mattress is clean is an easy habit of picking up, provided you want to make your mattress last. The first step is to determine how many times a year can you clean the mattress.
The two essential types of cleaning that a mattress requires are vacuuming and sun drying. Washing is not recommended and it is best to mark a routine for cleaning your bedding. Make sure to change your bedcover every few days and vacuum the mattress soon after. Overall cleanliness is necessary to keep the allergens and sleep-spoilers away.
If you own single-sided bedding, rotate it in an end-to-end fashion. You can reverse the foot end with the head end and vice-versa for each rotating session. For double-sided bedding, invert the mattress and repeat the same once every two weeks if your mattress is brand new.
How to increase the lifespan of a mattress
It is true that a brand new mattress makes you feel like it will always be a dream sleep. Although it takes a few days for the mattress to loosen up into its original outline, caring for a mattress starts from the first night!
Dos and Don’ts of using a mattress to make it last longer-
- Do not roll your mattress at any point of cleaning. This tends to deform its evenness and may even make the bedding lumpy or uneven at places. The same applies avoiding bending the mattress at angles more than 200.
- When shifting or going for vacation, how do you store your mattress? If you’re not going to use it for <2 days, it is best to store the bedding without deforming
- Using a central weight for the mattress can help to counteract sagging of the mattress.
- Do not eat or drink on the mattress. Stains, spills and accidents on the bed often add to degrading its longevity. The best solution is to use warm soapy water without any harsh chemicals to repair stains and spills.
- Never wash your mattress. If it accidentally gets wet, spot dry it immediately.
- Never let your kids jump on the bed. Make sure you restrict your use of the mattress solely for sleeping.
In addition, changing your sleeping sides can also help to increase the lifespan of your mattress!
Verdict on Lifespan of your Mattress
Whenever cleaning your mattress, remember to clean the area under the mattress areas as well. Often sediment dirt adds to dust mites and mattress allergies. Keeping your sleeping area clean is quintessential to every person who sleeps more than 5 hours on the same mattress.
Making your mattress last long is not an ordeal if you care for it from the very start. Being an expensive product, prevention is definitely economical than curing it post damages!