Here at The Odd Company, we pride ourselves on providing bespoke, handcrafted mattresses to suit every need. Of course, choosing the ideal mattress can be a challenging task. The perfect mattress can be difficult to define, as each of our clients have different preferences and specifications, but the vital factor is support. Your ideal mattress needs to support the curve of your sleeping body at rest, allowing the natural curve of your spine to be maintained without putting pressure on your muscles or joints. 

This support is crucial to ensure body to be well-rested – but can often be difficult to achieve with a mass produced mattress purchased from a high-street or retail park. Mattresses that are filled with thick-cut, stifling fillings like foam or other synthetic fibres, can give the appearance of being able to maintain the body’s posture without truly providing adequate support for your spine.

This all leads to one crucial question – how much should you pay for a mattress? Mattresses can be bought from shops on the high street cheaply and with ease – but often, they will be unable to relieve pressure on hardworking muscles or sore joints, and instead cause those aches and pains so many of us experience upon waking. Additionally, mattresses which are mass-produced are not designed to last – meaning a cheaper mattress will need replacing after only a few years of use. 

So, what is the hidden cost of a cheap mattress? 

When considering how much to spend on a mattress, this is one question it’s always advisable to ask yourself. A cheaper mattress might at first seem appealing – after all, spending less money usually feels preferable for us all! However, the simple fact is, purchasing a cheaper mattress is a false economy. 

To understand this, let’s consider your mattress’ use: typically, we use our mattresses every single night. Most people average between six and eight hours of sleep a night – making your mattress the most-frequently used item any of us will ever have. Many of us think nothing of spending hundreds, even thousands of pounds on a sofa – but still shy away from spending a larger sum of money on a mattress. The absurdity of this is clear – we might spend one or two hours on the sofa each evening – compared to between six and eight on our mattress!

If you do opt for a cheap mattress – the truth is that you’ll simply have to replace it more frequently. Cheaper materials mean that your mattress will wear out quicker, and thus need replacing sooner – making the money you ‘saved’ in the beginning now nonexistent. Spending more on your initial purchase typically means that your mattress will last for its intended lifespan – a decade, for well-made mattresses – and thus will not need replacing during that period. 

Is a cheap mattress bad for me? 

As many of us know, too, the quality of your mattress doesn’t just impact the hours you spend on it. The leading neuroscientist behind the 2017 tome ‘Why We Sleep’, Matthew Walker, has been one of the first scientists devoting his career to the impacts of sleep on human health and physiology. Walker’s book revealed that sleep affects everything from our risk of developing cancer to our blood pressure – citing the shocking example that adults who sleep less than six hours a night are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke in their lifetime, as compared with those sleeping seven or eight hours a night. As these statistics show – a poor night’s sleep simply isn’t worth the risk.

Sleeping on a cheap, poor-quality mattress doesn’t just impact us physically, however: our cognitive function has been proven to fluctuate in response to the quality and depth of our sleep!. A cheaper mattress is far less likely to be able to provide good-quality sleep, as you are unable to achieve true rest for your body. Feeling sluggish, fractious and stressed have all been linked to lack of sleep – in addition to underperforming at work and when exercising, along with decreased mental health. Simply put – a poor-quality, cheaper mattress has a much higher true cost than it first appears. 

How much should I pay for a mattress? 

At The Odd Company, our mattresses are bespoke – being designed to support your body, on the basis of frequency of use, number of sleepers and many more factors. The price of our mattresses will therefore differ from client to client, with the price varying on account of the size of the mattress, whether the mattress needs cut out or angled corners, as well the number of pocket springs and type of natural fillings used.

We would always suggest the most the crucial aspect of a mattress to focus on is spring count, as it is through this that support of the body while at rest is derived. At The Odd Company, our sleep experts always recommend opting for a mattress with the highest spring count you can afford. For a master bedroom a mattress with 1200 individual pocket spring or more is advisable. Our Windsor 1200 contains 1200 individual pockets springs and costs £725.00 in a King size. 

Why is the mattress that price?

Though this figure may initially seem high to some, let’s examine the price breakdown of such a mattress per year and per night of use. Over its approximate lifespan of ten years, the Windsor will cost you £72.50 per year, which translates to 20 pence per night, or 10 pence per person per night if you’re sharing! A small price to pay, when you consider the combined cost of replacing a cheaper mattress several times during this period, and the positive benefits to your health the mattress will bring as a result of restful and rejuvenating sleep, night after night.

Of course, the above is an advised starting-point – if your budget permits, we always recommend expanding the spring count as high as possible to ensure your body is as well-rested as it can be. Our experts will be happy to talk you through each and every option to ensure that you feel as informed (and ultimately, as well-rested) as possible! 

If you’d like to speak to one of our experts on the price breakdown for our standard or bespoke mattresses, or to get a quote for your bespoke Odd mattress, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.