Everyone hates to shop for a mattress. For most of us the last time we purchased a mattress was fifteen or twenty years ago. Prices have risen astronomically since then. Like car buying, we get sticker shock when we see what lofty premiums bedding stores have on their merchandise. We freak out when we see how much they cost. I could almost buy a good used car for the price of some new beds.

Have you looked in the yellow pages and marveled at all the places that sell mattresses and foundations, not to mention headboards, footboards, frames, futons, pillows and just about anything you else you could think of to get you a good night's sleep. If that's not enough, you have to decide on such things as memory foam, rubber foam, foam encased sides, edge guards, pocket coils innersprings, hypoallergenic products, and even body pressure imaging systems, it's no wonder that selecting a mattress can be confusing. Let's take a look at the often complex task of selecting just the right mattress for you.

The most important thing you can do to begin your mattress shopping is to try the mattress out. Most bedding stores don't allow you to take the bed home and try it for a month, so it's up to you to do the footwork necessary to insure pleasant slumbering. It's good to find a store with a good return policy for the first thirty to ninety days. That's when most defective mattresses surface.

First of all, if you're calorie challenged and weigh 400 pounds, don't expect a two hundred dollar mattress to last you ten years without collapsing. It just won't happen! Use common sense and find a mattress tough enough to withstand the weight night after night, year after year. Price alone should be an indicator of performance, but alas, that is not always true. Some folks say that there isn't much difference between a cheap mattress and a more costly one. As with almost anything else, you really do get what you pay for.

Shopping for a mattress should be fun! For most people though, it is a grueling test of physical and mental endurance. Let's face it, after you've looked at three or four mattresses, your eyes are starting to glaze over. They all look so much alike; it's hard to choose a mattress that will give you years of restful, peaceful sleep!

Lay down on the beds you are trying out. Don't just walk around the beds looking at the price tags and pushing the mattress with your hands. Don't do that! It's not going to bite you! You won't be standing on your hands when you sleep, so quit squeezing the mattress. Doing that won't tell your body how the mattress feels.

Also, do not lay down on the mattress with your legs hanging over the side. You don't sleep that way, so don't do it when mattress shopping. Laying this way creates a strain on your back muscles. Your back will start hurting and you'll start thinking it's the bed's fault that's causing your back pain and not the weird way you are lying. Give the bed a chance!

Try lying on the bed the same way you would if you were at home. If you sleep on your side, lay on your side. If you sleep on your back, lay on your back! Take a nap. Spend about fifteen minutes on each bed. This will determine if your body likes the bed. Listen to your body! Forget about your pocket book. A cheap bed will probably give you cheap results, resulting in a sore back in the morning. On the other hand, if price, not comfort, is your main criteria in a mattress, go to one of the huge national merchandising chains. You can't try the bed out, but you can usually get a good price.

You spend a third of your life in bed, but that eight hours of sleep is very important. If your sleep is not restful and restorative, the next day will be miserable. It's to your benefit to give your searching the time it deserves. Putting in the time to check out mattress can be time consuming. Basically it comes down to this. Let your body decide. If a cheap mattress feels as good as an expensive one, buy it!

Finally, this is just the beginning of your search. Think of all the fun you're going to have learning about layering, foam, ticking, coil counts, coils,both pocketed and non-pocketed. There's just no end to the excitement when you're mattress shopping.