How Often Should You Flip Your Mattress? - Keep Your Mattress Comfortable for a Good Night’s Sleep
We humans spend approximately half of our lives in our beds, fast asleep or doing one of the other activities that often require a bed… you know, like reading before bedtime.
It will come as no surprise then, that the majority of people care about maintaining the quality of their mattresses. This will help to make sure that it remains just as comfortable as it was on that first night, even after years of nightly (and hey, sometimes daily) use.
One of the ways you can keep your mattress in tip-top shape is to flip it, which you should do once every six months depending on the care instructions on the label on the mattress.
Why Should You Flip Your Mattress?
Flipping your mattress can help to keep it in better condition as it prevents sagging and dips from forming in the mattress where you tend to spend the most amount of time. This can affect the level of support your mattress is able to provide and can become uncomfortable.
However, you should only flip your mattress if it is a double-sided innerspring mattress. This will stop the steel coils from wearing out too early which causes dips in the surface. A lot of modern mattresses actually contain a label with care instructions that advise not to flip it.
Make sure to always check the label on your mattress before you flip it, as if it is not a mattress that is designed to be flipped, you could end up damaging it in the process or ruining it by sleeping on the wrong side.
The majority of memory foam, latex, hybrid, and pillow-top mattresses are one-sided which can lead to damage as the bottom side of the mattress is not designed to withstand the pressure of your weight while you are sleeping or lying on the bed.
Not only that but seeing as they are not designed to be slept on, the bottom side of these types of mattresses is often uncomfortable. They will not have been made with the same memory foam or cooling effect technologies that you’d experience if you were to sleep on it when it is facing the right side up.
What’s the Difference Between Flipping and Rotating a Mattress?
Both flipping and rotating your mattress are methods that can help preserve its quality.
Flipping a mattress involves turning it over onto its other side to prevent excessive wear and tear on one particular spot.
Rotating a mattress is when you turn it around by 180 degrees but leave it facing the same way up. This means that your head will sleep in the same spot as your feet were in, and your feet will stay in the same position as your head was before you flipped it.
Is It Better to Flip or Rotate Your Mattress?
For a long time, people have used a combination of flipping and rotating their mattress to try and keep it in the best possible condition, but without really knowing which is more effective.
With the development and improvement of mattress designs in recent years, is it better to flip or rotate your mattress? Truth be told, it depends on what style of mattress you have.
As we’ve mentioned, some brands specifically state that you do not need to flip your mattress and therefore you should not do so. In this case, it will obviously be a better option to rotate your mattress which can help prevent uneven wear and tear.
Rotating your mattress regularly will maintain an even distribution of the mattress filling to reduce the risk of dipping and sagging in the spots where you sleep. This means that your mattress will deliver better support for longer as well as being more comfortable.
How Should You Flip Your Mattress?
The majority of mattresses that are okay to be flipped will benefit from being rotated as well, so it’s best to kill two birds with one stone and to complete both jobs at the same time.
- Do some damage control and remove anything in the surrounding area that could be knocked over or damaged in the process.
- Strip the mattress of any accessories such as pillows, mattress toppers, pads, protectors, and linen.
- Rotate the mattress 90 degrees in a clockwise direction so that the longer side is running along the headboard.
- Lift the mattress to the side until it’s resting on its side.
- While it’s in this position, vacuum the mattress as well as the base of your bed, and anywhere else that you would usually struggle to reach if the mattress was lying flat.
- Carefully flip the mattress. You might need another person to help you with this.
- Gently and gradually lower the mattress so that the face that was originally facing up is now facing down and resting on top of the base of the bed.
- Rotate the mattress by another 90 degrees again in a clockwise direction so that the mattress is re-aligned with the base of the bed, but at the opposite end. This means that the end of the mattress where your head rests should now be at the foot of your bed, and the end where your feet rested is now at the head of the bed.
How Often Do You Need to Clean Your Mattress Topper?
If your mattress has seen better days, it might be worth investing in a mattress topper to bridge the gap between buying a new mattress altogether.
The great thing about using a mattress topper is that they can be easily removed and washed if they become stained or soiled and they can also provide an extra layer of padding. It’s recommended that you wash your mattress topper once every three months.
You don’t need to try and bundle it up with your weekly load of laundry, but when the seasons change it’s probably time to think about changing over your mattress topper or washing it and putting it back on.
