What dreams are made of
O, GREAT MATTRESS
MADE OF FOAM
...where have you been all my life?
Raise your hand if you've spent your life on springs so far and think that any mattress made of foam will not support your back when sleeping. You do? Oh, you don't know what you're missing... I feel straight out betrayed that I am discovering the joy of foam mattresses so late in my life. After all, I have moved homes 6 times in the last 14 years and have bought mattresses half those times, but always left them behind ("Darling, the new house has a king bed". "Darling, the new house has a supering bed". "Darling we need to buy a double. Again...").
And then there was the first home of our own, the funky split level flat in Fulham, with its spiral staircase (seen here). It was the cause of "Mattress-gate", for the deep King-size spring mattress we bought, without thinking about staircase curves and the lack of elasticity of spring mattresses in general, got stuck there, halfway up. "You're not pushing!" "I am! Maybe you're not pulling enough!" I did in fact stop pushing after 10 minutes; I was exhausted. I swore never to repeat such lunacy in my life. So be warned: if you have a spiral staircase like the one here, you MUST go for a nicely rolled up foam mattress.
Mythbusters
"A hard or extra firm spring mattress will cure my back problem".
And by the way, pigs fly.
Well, no they don't and no it won't necessarily. Really firm mattresses will actually decrease the ability of the body to have more contact with the mattress. That means more pressure on the parts of the body that do touch the mattress: your shoulders and your lower back, around your hips. Hence lower back ache.
So what about memory foam? Memory foam, which was first used in airplane seats, is highly energy absorbent and generally soft. It molds to the body in response to heat and pressure, evenly distributing body weight. It then returns to its original shape once you remove the pressure. In addition to protecting against impact, these properties make memory foam very comfortable.
Forget showrooms and simplify your life with LEESA
Ok, another myth buster here.
The only way to pick up a good quality mattress is by visiting a showroom
with tens of mattresses on display and laying on a few of them for a few uncomfortable seconds.
And when I say uncomfortable, I mean it. The lights are too bright. The sales person is watching. The other buyers are watching. Your kid is behaving, well, like a kid. It's all a bit embarrassing and annoying and you cannot make up your mind so quickly. After all, you will spend 1/3 of your life on this mattress for the next 6 years (yes, that's on average how often you should update your mattress, not the 14 you were aiming for). So you need to try the mattress for a little longer before you are certain it's the right one for you.
You don't need the stress, thank you very much. You CAN order a mattress online. Queue Leesa, makers of memory foam mattresses that are not only comfortable but super chic too. Leesa mattresses have 3 layers: a bottom 12cm dense core support foam; a middle layer of 5cm contouring foam and a top layer of cooling Avena(TM) foam. Anything more and it's all a bit too much. Leesa pride themselves of keeping in the right stuff and ridding of anything unnecessary that has been added over years to justify the higher prices. Sometimes simple is more, I agree with this. And all of this covered in a chic grey fabric that you'll just want to show off!
Take the guessing out of choosing your mattress
Forget the "which one?" question. Leesa currently offer one - universal - mattress type so you only need to choose the right size to fit your bed. DONE. I actually timed my time ordering my mattress on their website and it was under 4 minutes end to end. One handedly, on my mobile, while walking the dog. If that is not easy, I don't know what is! What I did spend more time on though was researching both the benefits of memory foam mattresses and testimonials about the Leesa mattress to satisfy myself and make an informed decision.
In my case, I sleep very easily and don't generally have problems with my back but my better half has been known to wake up more often than I like with a bad mood due to a bad night's sleep on the springs. One problem that I have always had though was that big spring mattresses (ours was a supering!) are way too heavy to lift, so changing the fitted sheets was a nightmare! If the foam mattress solved this problem, that would be one battle won already.
Ordering on the Leesa website was straight forward and I am kept informed with regular emails after the order is placed. I know when my mattress is ready and when shipped. And sure enough, within 4 days it arrives from Derbyshire, which is where Leesa manufacture their mattresses. Incidentally, the company also has offices in nearby Manchester so they are staffed and managed locally which to me is another great point - shop locally!
It takes two of us to remove the old mattress but only me to unpack and install the new Leesa. #justsayin. In an hour's time I go back to check if the mattress has risen. And sure enough it has. Check the depth of the slates on my bed below to get an idea of how high the mattress rises. Seriously, it's bliss. I must be making lots of excited sounds because someone hears me and comes running to see what all the fuss is about.
My night time bliss
Besides the free delivery, Leesa are also offering a 100 night trial as standard with all purchases. You did not misread: you have up to one hundred nights to decide whether or not this mattress is for you. If you are not convinced, and provided you have used the mattress for at least 30 days, you can call to arrange a free pick up via one of their recycling partners and Leesa will give you a full refund. But you know what? They can forget about that call because this mattress is staying. It's a keeper alright. I don't know if it's given my husband a better back, but it has given me better dreams! Do I really have to put the sheets back on?
You give, they give
Social responsibility - that's big in the corporate world recently. Enhancing customer experience is as important as letting the customer know that your product is ethically produced, your environmental footprint actively minimised and so on. In addition to staffing their UK offices locally and manufacturing in the UK, Leesa are following a 1-2-10 rule: For every 10 mattresses sold, they will donate one mattress to a charitable organisation. Wish this rule was followed by more corporates out there.
I am off to the land of dreams. Morpheus, here I come. But before I go, here's a little gift from Leesa for my readers: Click on the photo below for a cool £50 OFF a Luxury Leesa mattress. Then you can join me in the land of great dreams where goldfish (and not pigs) apparently fly...
Follow Leesa on Twitter: @LeesaSleepUK or if you're a Facebook fan (what!!!) like their page here. For Instasleeps check their Instagram feed. Tweet me your thoughts with #bettersleep
This post has been prepared in collaboration with LEESA UK
