Take the guesswork out of mattress shopping

Firm or soft? Innerspring or foam? Finding a comfortable mattress is an intensely personal experience. That's why Consumer Reports encourages shoppers to try any mattress they're considering by taking the time to lie down on each side, your back, and your stomach if that’s how you sleep. But mattresses also have specific, objective characteristics that can be evaluated in a lab. And that's where we come in. Here's how Consumer Reports tests mattresses:

Overall score

Each mattress we test is awarded a numerical score based on 100 points. Tests for side and back support, durability, and stability carry the most weight. Note that results for adjustable-air mattresses, such as Sleep Number beds, represent an average of firmness levels.

Side sleeping

Any mattress you buy should capably support and maintain the horizontal alignment of your spine while you're lying on your side. To measure this, we use human subjects and graph several points along their spines. With a mattress that scores well in this test, such as the $1,200 Spring Air Back Supporter Natalie foam from Costco, these points remain in line, fairly parallel to the mattress surface.

Back sleeping

Back strain is one reason you might wake up stiff and sore after a night on your mattress. Our back-support test graphs dozens of points along the spine’s natural curve for a range of adults. Then we record how each mattress maintains that curve while our test subjects lie on their backs. One that did especially well is the $1,500 Charles P. Rogers Powercore Estate 5000 innerspring.

Durability

Our tests roll years of physical abuse into a few weeks and the best mattresses handle it just fine. Our durability test pushes a 308-pound, cask-shaped roller over each mattress 30,000 times to mimic the typical eight to 10 year lifetime of a mattress. Then we measure for changes in firmness, height (to check for sagging), body support, and damage such as cuts in foam and ripples in areas of typical human contact. One that fared well is the adjustable-air Sleep Number c2 Bed, $700.

Stability

This is a measure of how much vibration is transmitted across the mattress. With an innerspring, lots of bounciness can result in a restless sleeper on one side of the bed waking up a sound sleeper on the other. We assess this by applying an impact and measuring the number of bounces before the mattress has settled. Models that score decently also get a Yes notation under the “Resists Bounciness “ column under “Features & Specs.”

Because some foam mattresses are so soft that you can sink in and find it hard to change positions, we use the same measurements to tell us how easy it is to change sleep position. Here, foam models that score decently are represented in the “Eases Movement” column. Most models we recommend score well on this test.

Retains warmth

Foam mattresses in particular are criticized for “sleeping warm”—that is, retaining heat. You might want this during the winter, though you’d rather the mattress release heat during the warmer months. We use a temperature-controlled chamber to assess all mattresses for how much body heat they capture.

Claimed vs. actual firmness

One company's ultraplush might be another's supersoft, so we use a machine to apply increasing force to a mattress to measure its firmness. This lets us objectively check claims using precise measurements.

We’re testing more models to add to our mattress Ratings, which should help you pre-select models that are tops in back and side support, among other factors. Be sure to see our mattress buying guide before narrowing down your choices.

—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)

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