For those who’re seeking to purchase a mattress, I need not inform you the analysis course of is advanced. To help with that, we now have an entire information that lays out (no pun supposed … OK, partially supposed) the place to start. However for now, I’m going to stroll via the assorted kinds of mattress supplies. My hope is that by the point you end studying this, you’ll have a greater concept of what sort of mattress you’re on the lookout for, which is able to make your ultimate determination that a lot simpler.
To place your thoughts comfy, let me stroll you thru my credentials: I am a licensed Sleep Science coach and mattress tester of over 5 years. I can dissect a mattress blueprint quicker than pouring your morning cup of espresso, I’ve perfected my unboxing kind (as a result of mattresses are heavy), and I can recite the manufacturing strategy of main mattress supplies at any given second. It is a enjoyable social gathering trick, however it makes me what I like to consider as the ultimate boss of mattress testing. My teammates additionally know their stuff (we sleep on mattresses we take a look at for per week or extra, then report again on our findings), which helped us compile this listing of one of the best mattresses of 2025.
So, again to choosing a kind of mattress: Regardless of the recognition of mattresses in a field and the picture they mission in our heads, it’s a lot greater than an oblong piece of froth you sleep on. There are 4 essential kinds of mattresses: innerspring, hybrid, reminiscence foam, and latex. To assist me clarify these supplies much more, I requested John Merwin, CEO of 3Z Manufacturers (father or mother firm of Helix, Birch, Bear, Nolah, and Leesa) and founding father of Brooklyn Bedding, to weigh in as nicely.
Innerspring
Reality be advised, that is extra of a historical past lesson than a kind of mattress you wish to store for (until you actually love this sort of mattress; to every their very own). “Conventional” innerspring mattresses are the firm-feeling beds you most likely have early recollections of, provided that the make-up is simply innerspring coils wrapped in a canopy. It’s simply as squeaky as you most likely bear in mind, too, because the coil sort used includes connecting every coil to work as one unit.
These are Bonnell coils, they usually join each laterally and vertically. All to say, whenever you lie down and your weight is pressed into the mattress, all these coils act as “one for all and all for one” and concurrently compress down. It’s not going to work wonders for stress aid like trendy hybrids will, however it’s extremely responsive, which suggests it’ll pop again into its authentic form as you progress round. So in the event you’re a sleeper who strikes round between sleeping positions, coils are function to have, so that you’re getting near-instantaneous help.
Why aren’t conventional coils within the works with mattresses these days? Based on Merwin, upgraded pocketed coils far outperform conventional ones.
“Not like conventional coils which might be wired collectively and transfer as a unit, pocketed coils are encased individually, which permits every coil to reply independently to motion and stress,” he mentioned. “This design minimizes movement switch, so when one individual strikes or will get away from bed, their associate feels far much less disruption. It additionally offers extra focused help, contouring to the physique in a means that improves spinal alignment and general consolation.” When you can nonetheless discover innerspring mattresses with conventional coils on the market, they’re sometimes getting phased out in favor of hybrids. Reality be advised, I’ve solely examined lower than a handful of them over time. For those who’re useless set on this mattress sort, all energy to you, and have enjoyable in your private mattress treasure hunt.
Hybrid
Conventional coil mattresses have developed into hybrids, which is what you’ll doubtless encounter on in the present day’s mattress market (apart from latex and foam choices). Hybrid mattresses are extremely customizable, permitting you to choose and select what you need in your mattress, whether or not that’s a mixture of froth and coils, latex and coils, and even a mixture of the three. Many mattress critiques will use the phrase “better of each worlds” to explain hybrids, as this mattress helps you to pattern the design facets of the supplies concerned. You will get the stress aid you want from reminiscence foam or latex on prime, however ample help from the coil core (to not point out the aforementioned responsiveness from coil inclusion).
Courtesy of Nolah
Talking of coils and paying homage to conventional mattress design, the kind of coil utilized in hybrid mattresses issues too, because it improves upon the design of the Bonnell coil. The key phrases to search for are “pocketed coils” or “individually wrapped coils,” which make up the primary help mechanism of a mattress. As a substitute of being interconnected, every coil stays in its personal lane (pocket, actually) and can compress uninhibited by the opposite coils round it. In different phrases, the place there’s extra weight, the mattress will really feel firmer.
That is particularly relevant for areas the place physique weight is centralized whenever you’re mendacity down, significantly across the hips and shoulders. Pocketed coils are additionally meant to outperform conventional ones within the movement isolation area, which means that whenever you transfer round, the person coil takes the warmth motion-wise and stops the mattress from reenacting a small earthquake. With the interconnectivity of conventional coils, it doesn’t take a lot for the sensation of motion to journey alongside your complete floor of the mattress.
