How To Know When You Need a New Mattress?

Every mattress needs to be replaced at some point. With nightly use, mattresses can become less effective and supportive over time as the materials wear down, which may cause discomfort and disrupt your sleep quality.

But how do you know when to buy a new mattress? Do all mattresses have the same lifespan?

Purchasing a new mattress can be a big financial investment, so it’s likely not something you want to do sooner than you need. However, it may be the right decision to preserve your sleep quality and stop waking up with aches and pains.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the average lifespan of a mattress, care tips to extend its life and signs that it’s time for a mattress replacement.

Factors Affecting Mattress Longevity

Though mattresses tend to have an average lifespan, several variables can impact how long yours lasts.

Mattress Material

The materials a mattress is made from and their quality can influence its lifespan. As we’ll cover in more detail below, mattresses made from more durable and denser materials like latex and memory foam often last the longest. They’re generally more resilient and are less susceptible to sagging and deterioration with regular use.

Additionally, mattresses made with hypoallergenic materials, like latex, don’t collect allergens like pollen, dander and mold as easily, which helps to keep them cleaner for longer.

On the other hand, those made with traditional innersprings and less dense memory foam tend to wear down more quickly and require replacement more frequently.

Usage Frequency

How frequently the mattress is used will also affect when it will need to be replaced. As you might be able to assume, the more nights a mattress is slept on, the more wear and tear it will experience, and the quicker you’ll need to replace it.

This means that a mattress on the bed in your spare room may not need to be replaced as frequently as the bed you sleep on each night.

Body Weight

A sleeper’s body weight can impact how quickly a mattress wears out. Heavier individuals place more pressure on the sleep surface than those with a lighter build, which may lead to faster wear and tear and premature sagging.

There are certain mattresses designed for heavier sleepers, which are often made with denser materials to mitigate sagging.

Care and Maintenance

The care and maintenance a mattress receives are important variables for its longevity. Without proper cleaning, dead skin cells, spills, body fluids, dust mites and other allergens can accumulate on the mattress. This can create problems for allergy sufferers when they consistently wake up with a stuffy nose and runny or irritated eyes, which might lead them to replace their mattress prematurely.

This extends to other maintenance tasks like rotating your mattress, changing out your linens and airing it out frequently to keep it in good condition for longer.

Environmental Factors 

There are some lesser-known factors that can impact how long your mattress lasts, like your environment. Things like temperature, humidity and sunlight exposure can cause mattress materials to degrade more quickly.

For example, if your sleep environment is particularly humid, it may be easier for the mattress to trap moisture and attract dust mites and other allergens, which may cause irreversible damage. Similarly, extensive direct sunlight might cause certain materials to degrade or become discolored, leading you to replace the mattress more quickly.

Mattress Lifespan By Type: When Is It Time for a New One?

How long does a mattress last? The National Sleep Foundation notes that most mattresses should last between seven and ten years.

However, the exact lifespan of your mattress will depend on the specific type you own, in addition to the factors discussed above. Here’s a quick overview of the life expectancy for different mattress types:

Innerspring Mattress: 5.5 to 6.5 years

According to The National Sleep Foundation, traditional innerspring mattresses have the shortest lifespan of all other mattresses. In general, they’re expected to last anywhere from five and a half to six and a half years.

As with the other types of mattresses, this lifespan can be extended with proper care and maintenance. However, an innerspring mattress will typically wear out quicker than other types.

Memory Foam Mattress: 6 to 10 years

How long do memory foam mattresses last? It depends on the density and quality of the memory foam. With age, any memory foam mattress will lose its ability to contour to the body and offer custom support.

On the lower end, a mattress made with low-density foam might wear out after five or six years of owning it. But, a memory foam mattress made with high-density foam or polyfoam can last much longer, up to ten or more years, depending on the specific model and care it receives.

Hybrid Mattress: 6 to 8 years

The lifespan for hybrid mattresses falls right in the middle of the other types. They usually don’t last as long as latex mattresses but tend to have a longer life than traditional innerspring or some memory foam mattresses.

Because the construction of hybrid mattresses can vary widely from brand to brand, there is some variability here. For instance, hybrid mattresses made with quality materials and thicker comfort layers of latex or high-density foam can last longer than other models.

Latex Mattress: 10+ years

Latex mattresses tend to be the most durable, giving them the longest average lifespan before they start to sag or lose their support.

So, how long is a mattress good for when it’s made from latex? They usually last at least ten years but can have a much longer lifespan with proper care. An added bonus is that latex is an organic, hypoallergenic material, so it isn’t as susceptible to dust and allergen buildup as other materials, keeping it cleaner and easier to maintain.

Signs It’s Time To Replace Your Mattress

How do you know when to get a new mattress? With the expected lifespan ranging a few years, you may have a hard time deciding when it’s the right time. To make your decision easier, here are some common signs you need a new mattress.

Sagging

After years of using a mattress, it may start to sag or dip near the middle. You may also notice an indentation in the mattress where you typically sleep each night.

Though this may not seem like an immediate issue, it’s likely a sign that the mattress’s materials are wearing down, and it may not offer the same support and cushion that it once did. Instead, it may provide uneven support, exacerbating any aches and pains as it causes your body to become misaligned while you sleep.

Lumpy Surface

Additionally, you might notice your mattress is starting to have a lumpy or uneven sleep surface. Not only does a lumpy mattress feel a bit strange, but it can also impact how effectively it supports your body and promotes proper alignment while you sleep.

Maybe you’re starting to feel the individual springs pressing into your pressure points, or the memory foam in your mattress is starting to clump together.

This may occur more quickly if you don’t rotate your mattress as recommended, though it’s also a standard sign that your mattress is at the end of its lifespan.

Discomfort

A big reason to replace your mattress is that it’s simply uncomfortable. If you wake up feeling aches and pains throughout your body or you have a hard time getting comfortable enough to fall asleep at night, the issue may stem from your outdated mattress.

With regular use, the mattress might lose some of its supportive and cushiony qualities. This is to be expected after sleeping on a mattress for a number of years, though it may mean you’re ready for an upgrade to help restore your sleep health and overall comfort.

Disrupted Sleep Quality 

If you start to feel fatigued in the morning, even after getting a full night’s rest, you may need to replace your mattress. Even if you’re able to fall asleep, you may not be aware of the tossing and turning your body does throughout the night as it tries to readjust and get comfortable.

Ongoing restless sleep can lead to poor sleep quality and feelings of sluggishness and fatigue as you go about your day. Though there can be other reasons causing you to have poor sleep quality, an outdated mattress is one important factor to consider.

How To Extend the Life of Your Mattress

Even though there are general guidelines on when to replace mattresses, these are not strict rules. It’s up to each individual to decide when their mattress no longer offers the support and comfortability they need to achieve good quality sleep. Regardless, there are some things you can do to maintain and care for your mattress to make it last longer.

Clean Regularly

There is a common mattress myth that they’re hard or impossible to clean. However, this typically is not the case. In fact, regularly cleaning your mattress can actually help it last longer.

At the very least, use your vacuum cleaner to remove dust and dirt from your mattress on a frequent basis, like once a month. This can help to mitigate the buildup of allergens, dust mites and harmful bacteria that can cause health issues and degrade your mattress more quickly than it should.

Rotate Frequently

With older models, flipping your mattress was a standard practice to ensure normal wear patterns. Newer mattresses have one side that’s meant to be slept on, so they don’t require a full flip in the traditional sense. However, it’s still a good idea to rotate it frequently for the same reason.

Our Sleep Experts® recommend rotating your mattress 180 degrees to help prolong its life and prevent extensive wear only in certain areas. In the first few years that you own a mattress, try to rotate it at least four times a year and less frequently the longer you own it.

Use a Mattress Protector

Putting a mattress protector on your bed can help create a barrier between the mattress and sweat, bacteria, dead skin and other allergens that cause damage. They’re also much cheaper than a mattress, so even if it does get damaged or ruined, it won’t be as much of a financial burden to purchase a new one.

A protector helps you keep the mattress clean and is much easier to wash than the mattress itself. You can simply remove it and throw it in the wash with the rest of your bed linens on a regular basis.

Avoid Excessive Wear

Lastly, only use your mattress as intended to keep it in good condition for longer. This means you shouldn’t jump or eat on the bed you use every night to avoid placing unnecessary pressure on the mattress.

Also, you might be tempted to place or store items on the mattress in your spare bedroom while not in use. However, this can also cause excessive wear patterns, even when no one is actually sleeping on it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mattress Lifespan