Top Ten Ways to Deal with a Hard Mattress

“My Mattress is Harder Than a Rock!”

You are not alone – and somehow everyone seems to believe that a firm mattress is best for them and their loved ones. The funny thing is people flock through the doors of my store for solutions to their hard bed problems. I stand by my long-time belief that firmness is subjective and here’s why: one person says that there is nothing better than a good firm rock hard mattress while the next person I talk to complains of pain from too hard of a bed. Some describe the feel of sleeping on a slab of concrete or even plywood.

Our 10 ways out of this comfort nightmare help solve the problem and it fits a wide range of budgets. These tips have worked for others and please comment below if you have solved your mattress issue and how you did it.

10 Tips to Deal with a Hard Mattress

1. Sleep on the couch – While this may not be the best choice it works for many. Sofas can emulate all foam mattresses which are quite popular these days and are a low-cost solution that can save you money now.
2. Purchase a mattress topper – Maybe the second best solution to a mattress that is hard and solid as a rock. What is a mattress topper? In a nutshell, it is like adding a replaceable soft pillow top to a mattress. What kinds of toppers are there? Many kinds of different pads can be added to a bed.  Memory foam, latex rubber, and down are just a few that can dramatically change the hard feel of a bed.
3. Think through the idea of buying a different bed – Sometimes we make buying mistakes. Harder is not always better and sometimes we just need to bite the bullet and get what we should have got in the first place – a new mattress and boxspring.
4.  Sleep in the spare bedroom – Sometimes just changing it up can be helpful when owning an inflexible mattress. Be careful on this one oftentimes people throw their old worn-out mattresses in the extra room as a low-cost idea not realizing that one day they might sleep on it themselves when they get sick, can’t sleep, or they cannot get comfortable in their own bed.
5. Change out the mattress only – This may seem like a stupid idea but it can save you a lot of money as much as $500.00 depending on the size of your mattress. Replacing the mattress only is literally like starting from scratch so take your time and test the mattress for support making sure that it isn’t too firm.
6. Get a different boxspring /foundation – Many of today’s new mattress sets don’t utilize a flexible boxspring. They are most often ridged solid non-giving bases that support the mattress but do not let it flex and give like you might need it to. A flexible box spring is one of the cheapest and best solutions.
7. Consider adding a feather bed to the top of your mattress – We broke this one out because so many have heard of them. What many people don’t realize is that a featherbed is the original mattress topper. It was sold as a mattress for years and years and still is to this day. Down and feather mattresses added to a hard bed can make a world of difference for a stiff sleeping surface and are one of the most luxurious additions someone can make to soften a mattress up.
8. Ponder the idea of a new bed that offers adjustable firmness – Adjustable mattresses are a category all by themselves these days. People who are scared they might get a bed that is too hard again or one that is too soft benefit by having a bed where the firmness can be adjusted by the sleeper. Airbeds like the like the Smart Bed, Adjustable or Modular type mattresses and even waterbeds like hardsides and softsides are great examples of changeable firmness mattresses. An adjustable bed can also help in redistributing body weight helping to ease pain caused by harder mattresses.
9. Change out the bedding you sleep on –  Believe it or not, your sheets and mattress pad can have a huge effect on the way your bed feels and if all else fails it is a great Jedi mind trick to convince your body that the bed is significantly softer. Using a mattress pad with more filling is a great start to take away some of that mattress harshness. High-quality thread count sheets with pliable soft fibers add comfort with minimal cost.
10. Move to the recliner – Many people sleep comfortably in a recliner and why shouldn’t they? Unfortunately, more people spend time picking out the perfect chair than they do a mattress. Somehow they don’t feel awkward testing recliners in a store but find mattresses embarrassing to try out even though should be more important.