It’s quite surprising to know that a vast majority of people seem to believe that a mattress is a one-off purchase for their home.
A lot of Australians, and indeed reviewers and bloggers online, tout that a mattress is something you buy once, and you simply keep for the rest of your life. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Given that you use your mattress for hours and hours on end each night, it’s the one item at home that should be replaced more often than just about anything else. That in mind, with all of us spending more than a third of our life on our mattresses, you’ll need to replace it every so often.
With all of that out of the way, you will need to replace your mattress every decade or possibly every eight years depending on what model it is and the materials it’s made of.
Let’s take a look below at how often you should change your mattress.
Mattress Lifespan Based on Materials
As you will already know, the lifespan of a mattress will often rely on the materials it is made out of. The higher-end materials such as latex and memory foam, for example, are engineered in a way that ensures longevity so you’re going to get a lot more use out of these.
Take a look at typical mattress lifespans below.
- Latex — over 10 years
- Hybrids — around 10 years
- Innersprings — 10 years
- Memory Foam — between 8 and 10 years
- Air Mattresses — between 5 and 10 years
That said, material type is only one part of the story when it comes to the lifespan of your mattress. How you use your bed and how you maintain it also comes into play here too, and there are some things you might be doing to your mattress that will shave years off its total life span.
Knowing When to Replace Your Mattress
We know that there’s a lot that goes into understanding how effective a mattress is and knowing when to replace it.
That in mind, we’ve listed a few of the more common and easy-to-spot signs that it’s time to replace your mattress. All of which don’t take too much analysis or inspection.
Waking Up in Pain
Off the top, one of the first things you’ll want to take notice of is how you’re feeling in the morning. If you’re noticing that pain and soreness in the back, neck and joints is a common problem — then your mattress isn’t supportive enough any more.
That in mind, we suggest either switching to another bed in your home right away or replacing your mattress as soon as possible. Prolonged sleeping on a poorly-supportive mattress can cause longer term issues.
Sleeping Better Elsewhere
A rather tricky tip we ask you to keep an eye on is whether you’re falling asleep soundly on surfaces other than your bed. Do you find it easier to fall asleep on the sofa, the carpet or in the car, for example?
If this sounds like you, you may have a mattress that’s too uncomfortable to encourage sleep and your body is finding other locations to get some shut-eye.
If Tossing and Turning is Your New Normal
Another relatively easy issue to spot is if you’re tossing and turning during bedtime. If you are almost never able to fall asleep quickly and always rolling about in bed desperate to get some sleep, then there’s a good chance that your mattress isn’t allowing your body to relax into the material.
That in mind, your spine and joints are also not going to be supported, and so we again suggest replacing the mattresses causing these issues as soon as possible.
You Find There’s a ‘Dip’ in the Mattress
In line with tossing and turning above, if you’re finding that when you roll around in bed looking for that comfortable position and you’re always falling to the centre, then this is a major red flag.
You might notice that your mattress is starting to concave into the centre, leaving a rather large dip.
This is another significant issue and we highly suggest not sleeping on this mattress at all and swapping to your spare bed or the sofa while you wait for a new mattress to arrive.
Lumps and Indents Appearing
Adding to our concave tip above, some mattresses won’t simply dip in the centre, but rather develop some lumps and small indents across the entire mattress itself.
For those of our readers noticing this, there’s a good chance you do have an innerspring that’s begun to age and wear out unevenly and this isn’t a good sign. With that in mind, you will also need to replace these mattresses as the springs are losing their ability to support and contour to the body — resulting in back pain.
Rips and Tears, Stains and Lumps
One of the more obvious signs it’s time to replace your mattress are the cosmetic issues you’ll begin to see on the outside.
Although a tear or a worn out edge of the mattress won’t typically affect your posture, these will enable bacteria, mites and other impurities to find their way into the mattress.
Once you factor this in, you could soon be dealing with allergies and further issues sleeping caused by a cough, runny nose or anything else.
Reduced Motion Transfer
You may already know, older mattresses slowly become a little firmer and less supportive than when they were brand new.
When you consider this, there’s a good chance you’ll recognise that your partner’s movements have slowly become a lot more invasive and distracting than when your mattress was brand new.
That said, if you’ve begun to be shaken awake by a partner getting up and down during the night, your mattress’s motion transfer may be shot, and this isn’t a good sign when it comes to an effective mattress.
Allergies Arcing Up
As we mentioned above, rips and tears can allow bacteria and allergens into your mattress.
With that noted, if you spot that you begin to sneeze, cough or have a runny nose soon after getting into bed, then it might be worth your while to invest in a new mattress. Keep in mind that when you’re dealing with allergies, you’re unable to sleep, which means these mattresses are going to be cutting your chances of getting a good night’s sleep.
If You’ve Gained Weight
One final thing to note that isn’t explicitly related to your mattress is the fact that your personal weight gain may have affected your comfort level.
If you invested in your mattress prior to gaining (or even losing weight) you’ll notice that the comfort you are experiencing is reduced. Heavier sleepers press down further into their mattresses, which means soft firmness levels become uncomfortable.
For those who have gained a little weight, or a lot, it’s in your best interested to upgrade your mattress to a firmer model that better suits your new comfort requirements.
As you can see above, there are a tonne of different factors that will let you know when to change your mattress beyond just the eight to ten year time limit.
Keep an eye out for some of those things above and we’re sure you’ll be able to pinpoint why you’re having trouble sleeping, or when it’s time to replace your mattress.
The Perks of a New Mattress
To give you a further little push, we have some statistics on the perks of getting a new mattress. Of course, everyone loves the feeling of a new, soft and supportive mattress — and there are some metrics out there to prove that a new bed is worth it!
Take a look at some of the best perks of a new mattress coming from an Oklahoma State University study.
- More than 64 per cent of sleepers experienced improved sleep quality
- More than 58 per cent of sleepers experienced lessened back stiffness
- More than 62 per cent of sleepers experienced reduced back pain
- More than 69 per cent of sleepers experienced improved sleep comfort.
Those points in mind, there’s no argument when it comes to choosing a new mattress that’s going to offer you a better night’s sleep. Just because your mattress may not have yet reached its ten-year expiration date, it might still be showing the signs of needing to be replaced.
It’s always a good idea to put your sleep health first and to invest in a new mattress rather than waiting for your warranty or expiration date to come around. If you’re uncomfortable, sore or unable to sleep — pull the trigger on a comfortable, supportive new mattress.
How to Check Your Warranty
Before we wrap up our article, you may want to consider drawing on your mattress’s warranty to nab a replacement a little earlier than the ten-year date.
A lot of mattresses offer some great warranty from 15 and even 20 years, however, you’ll find that this warranty is offered for structural issues only. This means you’re going to be less likely to find a free replacement for a prematurely uncomfortable mattress.
However, you can still request someone to assess your mattress prior to throwing it away and buying a new one on your own.
Sometimes a mattress’s comfort and support has faltered due to a manufacturing defect — which your manufacturer is required to cover under their warranty.
Our biggest tip here is to pull on the two types of warranty that are available to Australians, and those are the Defect Warranty and the Consumer Guarantee.
The consumer guarantee protects you from a product that isn’t performing or functioning as was advertised by the manufacturer. If you’ve recently replaced a mattress, or invested in one within the last twelve months only to find that it’s begun to sag or has little to no support left, then it’s worth your while to pull on this warranty and consumer protection.
The defect warranty on the other hand is the warranty offered by the manufacturers themselves, which will have your mattress replaced or repaired under a set of specific circumstances.
For example, if your mattress has springs that have failed or you’re noticing that there’s a major problem with support or the firmness of the mattress, you may be eligible for a replacement.
In all, don’t waste either of these two warranties when it comes to replacing an underperforming mattress. Mattresses aren’t the cheapest products, and it’s always best to check up on what your options are when it comes to a replacement.
Conclusion
With all of that said, it’s clear to see that mattresses certainly aren’t a one-off purchase and are products that will need to be replaced over a period of time. Of course, you’re not going to need to replace your mattress every year, unless you’re uncharacteristically rough with it — though, you will need a new one every eight to ten years or so.
When it comes to knowing how often to change your mattress, be sure to stay on the lookout for some of the signs we outlined above, and always use your own sleeping experience to dictate when to change the bed.
If you’re sleeping in pain, unable to get comfortable or generally having a bad experience on your mattress, it’s better to replace it regardless of its age or if there’s even anything wrong with it.
The more you prolong your mattress replacement, the higher your chances are of dealing with chronic back pain and muscle problems down the line, and this is certainly something you don’t want to be stuck with.
