At The Odd Company, it’s our mission to give customers a sleep less ordinary – on the basis that, for the majority of people, an ‘ordinary’ night’s sleep is characterised by restlessness and disruption.

Studies have shown that two-thirds (67%) of UK adults report having disrupted sleep on a regular basis, with just under half (48%) feeling they don’t get enough sleep. A third (31%) of UK adults say they suffer from insomnia, and half (48%) say that poor sleep has a negative impact on their mental health. 

There’s no ducking under the duvet to avoid figures like these – what millions of us consider an ‘ordinary’ night’s sleep is problematic, with wide-ranging negative consequences for our health and wellbeing.

A poor night’s sleep can have various causes, ranging from diet and lifestyle habits to stress and anxiety. But one factor that can’t be overlooked is simply comfort. If you are not comfortable when you lay down to sleep, or you quickly start get too hot or too cold, your body and mind will find it hard to switch off. And even when you do, you will find you wake up at regular intervals.

It’s our mission to put that right. We understand just how much of a difference a quality mattress can make to ensuring a restful night’s sleep. Unlike all the mass-produced mattresses on the market, our bespoke products are hand crafted to the individual specifications of every customer – a mattress designed to deliver maximum comfort for your size, body shape, weight and personal preferences.

So how do we ensure our mattresses deliver the best possible night’s sleep for everyone? Here are some of the tricks of our trade which makes our mattress ‘odd’.

The only way is pocket sprung

In our humble opinion, a mattress made with a pocket spring system is the only way to go if your objective is maximum comfort, for the best quality sleep possible. In a standard sprung mattress, all the springs are connected to one another to create a sprung frame. This type of spring system is known as the Bonnell or open coil spring as each hourglass shaped spring is ‘open’ and therefore not enclosed.

With a pocket sprung mattress, all the springs sit in their own individual fabric pockets (as you can see, the names give you a good clue as to how these things work!). The fabric pockets keep the spring upright, preventing them from falling over within the mattress. Crucially however the pocket means that each spring isn’t connected to those around it and can therefore work independently of one another. Each individual spring is free to adjust to the contours of your body, providing better support of your body’s natural posture. As the spring count increases, the diameter of each spring becomes smaller, and therefore the ability for the mattress to maintain your posture increases, creating a more comfortable and restful sleeping surface.

Pocket sprung mattress

Nature knows best

Check the label of the mattresses on display at your local retail park and you will see a lot of synthetic materials listed. Polyester and foams are widely used as mattress fillings as they are cheap and readily available, however neither of these qualities make them particularly great to sleep on.

One drawback of the synthetic fillings most commonly used in mattresses is that they don’t easily breath. When used to make a mattress, these fibres do not encourage airflow through the mattress. The result? Things are going to get hot very quickly, which can cause you to sweat, with the moisture then being trapped within the mattress. 

If you don’t like the sound of bathing in your own perspiration as you try to sleep, a mattress made with natural fibre fillings is the way to go. We use a combination of four natural fibres in our mattresses – cotton, wool, horsehair and cashmere – carefully chosen for the balance of properties they provide. 

Cotton for example, being highly breathable, aerates the mattress and naturally wicks moisture away from the body, this makes is a great material for regulating temperature at all times of the year. Horsehair is incredibly soft and springy, adding to the support provided by the pocket springs, while wool and cashmere create a soft luxurious feel while trapping huge volumes of air in colder months helping to keep the body cosy when nights get cooler during the winter.

Put all of these things together, and you get a mattress that supports a great night’s sleep – the kind that you deserve. Why settle for ordinary when ordinary leaves you feeling tired, irritable and unable to function at your best? There’s a better mattress, and a better quality of sleep, ready and waiting for you to discover it.