A change I made recently, not because of age though, was to buy a new mattress. I have a manageable bad back and as it was hurting, and my mattress was 15 years old, I decided I needed a new one. So I researched them - WHY is everything so complicated today?
- and walked to the bedding store, with an aching back but that was good so I could feel what type of mattress helped it and anyway walking is good for my back. Now take a tip from me: don't make a significant purchase 20 minutes before the shop is closing.
I lay on their firmness-rating thingy and was told that I needed a firm mattress so I opted for an extra-firm: there's logic in there somewhere! It felt so good under my back. I was told that it had a 'summer' side and a 'winter' side and you just flip it over. I fell for the sales-speak. A 72-year-old with a bad back, and now a bad hip, just about flips a pancake but not a 30cm-deep double mattress! To make it worse my bed is wood-framed and the mattress sits inside it, on top of slats. I'd missed that bit, in the research, about sprung mattresses not being the best sort for slats. Also I stored six cardboard boxes and three suitcases under the bed. They got a bit dusty. It didn't matter with my old mattress: the underside was always the underside. Not now. Later on I would be sleeping on the side that was face down gathering dirt through the gaps in the slats, if I didn't keep it clean. So I had to move all that stuff into the back bedroom and give it all a thorough clean. Then I used an old duvet cover, under the mattress, to cover the slats, which I now clean regularly. The delivery guys wouldn't touch the old mattress, which I dragged into the back bedroom on the morning of the delivery, but placed the new one on top of the duvet cover. So every time I rotate the mattress - should be weekly for 8-12 weeks, I managed 5 - I have to keep the underlying duvet cover in place.
I've been sleeping on the winter side for a couple of months. It felt like sleeping on rubble for the first night. Eventually the hardness eased and it's now comfortable, just as it's time to change to the summer side, so I've got to go through all the hardness issues again! Eventually I hope it proves to be a good mattress but how do I get myself into these situations?
