How to Choose a Mattress

Guides  ·  Sleep

You spend a third of your life on it. Choosing the right one shouldn’t feel like a gamble.

Choosing a new mattress can feel overwhelming. There are dozens of types, firmness scales that mean different things to different brands, and no shortage of conflicting advice. Spend an evening reading reviews and you can end up more confused than when you started.

It doesn’t need to be that way. The right mattress comes down to a handful of straightforward questions — how you sleep, the support your body needs, and how much depth and quality you’re actually getting. This guide breaks the decision into clear sections, covering mattress types, sleeping positions, firmness, depth, and the specific considerations of a sofa bed, before sharing how we choose our own mattresses here at Furl.

Chapter I

What are the different types of mattress?

Before getting into how to choose a mattress, it helps to understand the main types available and what each one offers. You don’t need to become an expert — but knowing the difference between a pocket sprung and a hybrid, or why latex behaves differently to memory foam, makes the rest of the decision far easier.

1. Pocket sprung mattresses

A pocket sprung mattress is built from individual springs, each sewn into its own fabric pocket so it can move independently of the ones around it. Rather than the whole surface shifting as one unit, the springs respond to the specific shape and weight of your body, supporting your hips and shoulders separately. It’s one of the reasons pocket sprung is widely considered among the most supportive constructions available, and why it handles two sleepers of different weights so well.

As a general rule, a higher spring count points to a more finely tuned, better-quality mattress — though it isn’t the only thing that matters, and more springs alone don’t guarantee a better night’s sleep. Every mattress in Furl’s storage bed mattress range is pocket sprung, with spring counts running from 1,800 up to 3,200.

2. Memory foam mattresses

Memory foam contours closely to the body, moulding around your shape to relieve pressure points — which many people find comforting, particularly around the hips and shoulders. The trade-off is that foam can retain heat, leaving some sleepers feeling warm overnight, and it tends to feel less responsive and slower to adjust than a sprung surface. For that reason, memory foam is often used as a comfort layer on top of a sprung base in a hybrid mattress, rather than as a standalone construction.

3. Hybrid mattresses

A hybrid mattress brings the two worlds together: a pocket sprung base for support, topped with comfort layers of foam or latex for pressure relief. The aim is to combine the responsive, breathable support of springs with the cushioning of foam. Because they balance both qualities, hybrids suit a wide range of sleepers and have become an increasingly popular all-round choice.

4. Latex mattresses

Latex is naturally responsive and breathable, springing back quickly rather than holding an impression the way foam does. It tends to sleep cooler, which makes it a good option for those who run hot at night, and it appeals to anyone after a more natural or eco-conscious choice. Furl’s Vegan 3200 mattress is built this way, using chemical-free latex fillings and certified by the Vegan Society.

5. Gel mattresses

Gel-infused mattresses are designed around temperature regulation, drawing heat away from the body to keep you comfortable through the night — a strong choice for anyone who tends to overheat. Furl’s Gel 1800 is a real-world example, using Cooler Revo Gel Foam fillings that help keep you warm when it’s cold and cool when it’s hot.

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Chapter II

How to choose the right mattress for your sleeping position

Sleeping position is one of the most important factors in choosing a good mattress. It directly affects how your spine aligns and how your weight is distributed across the surface overnight — so it’s the single best place to start. Here’s what to look for, position by position.

Side sleepers

Sleeping on your side concentrates your weight on the hips and shoulders, so the surface needs to cushion those pressure points while still keeping your spine level. A softer to medium mattress usually works best, giving enough to let your shoulder sink in without losing support beneath the waist. Both pocket sprung and hybrid mattresses suit side sleepers well.

Back sleepers

Lying on your back naturally encourages good spinal alignment, which gives you more flexibility on firmness. That said, a medium to firm mattress is generally preferred, supporting the natural curve of the lower back without letting it sink. Furl’s Luxury 2000 (firmness 5) is a good example of a well-supported medium-firm option.

Front sleepers

Sleeping on your front places the most strain on the lower back and neck, so a firmer mattress is usually recommended to keep the spine in a more neutral position and reduce discomfort. A mattress that is too soft will let the hips sink, curving the spine unnaturally over the course of the night.

Combination sleepers

If you move between positions through the night, a medium firmness mattress tends to be the most versatile choice. It offers a balance of cushioning and support that works reasonably well however you happen to be lying, rather than being optimised for one position at the expense of the others.

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Chapter III

How to choose the right mattress firmness

Firmness is one of the most personal aspects of choosing a mattress. Sleeping position gives you a useful starting point, but your body weight, your own preference, and any health considerations all play a part. There’s no universally “correct” firmness — only the one that’s right for you. Firmness is usually rated on a scale; at Furl, we rate ours from 3 to 5 across our curated range.

Fig. 01 — A general guide only. Personal preference always has the final word, which is why it’s worth trying a mattress before you commit.

As a practical reference, here’s how Furl’s four storage bed mattresses sit on the scale:

Gel 1800 — firmness 4
Luxury 2000 — firmness 5
Vegan 3200 — firmness 4
Supreme Calm — firmness 3–4

If you’d like to go deeper on this, our companion guide on firm or soft mattresses unpacks how firmness really feels in practice.

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Chapter IV

How to choose the right mattress depth

Depth is one of the things most people overlook when choosing a new mattress, yet it makes a real difference to both comfort and longevity. As a rule, a deeper mattress holds more comfort layers — which means better pressure relief and support that holds its shape over the years rather than flattening within months.

What mattress depth do I need?

For most sleepers, 20–25cm is a good starting point, offering enough comfort layering for proper support without feeling excessive. If you want a more luxurious feel, or you need extra support, look for 25cm and above. As a sense of what quality looks like at different points, here are the depths across Furl’s storage bed mattress range:

Gel 1800 — 24cm
Luxury 2000 — 25cm
Vegan 3200 — 27cm
Supreme Calm — 30cm

Does a deeper mattress always mean better quality?

Not on its own. Depth is a useful signal, but what’s inside the mattress matters just as much as how thick it is. Spring count, the quality of the fillings, and the cover materials all shape how a mattress feels and how long it lasts. A well-made 24cm mattress will outperform a poorly built 30cm one every time — so treat depth as one part of the picture, not the whole of it.

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Chapter V

How to choose a mattress for a sofa bed

A sofa bed mattress is a different consideration to a standard one, because it has to fold away when the sofa is in use. That single constraint is why mattress quality varies so dramatically between sofa bed brands — and why depth and construction deserve extra attention when you’re choosing one.

Why mattress depth matters more in a sofa bed

Many sofa beds on the market use mattresses as thin as 6–10cm. That might be passable for the odd night, but it rarely feels supportive for anything more. Furl sofa beds use mattresses up to 18cm deep — significantly thicker than most competitors, and much closer to the feel of a proper bed. That depth is the difference between a guest tolerating a night and genuinely sleeping well.

Everyday use vs occasional use

If a sofa bed is going to be slept on regularly rather than wheeled out for the occasional guest, mattress quality matters even more. Furl sofa beds are designed as proper beds first — built with the support and depth you’d expect from something you sleep on every night, then engineered to fold neatly back into a sofa by day. If you’re weighing this up, our guide on whether you can sleep on a sofa bed every night goes into more detail.

What depth sofa bed mattress do I need?

As a rough guide: 12cm is a sensible minimum for occasional guest use, while 15–18cm is worth looking for if the bed will be used regularly or nightly. Furl’s sofa bed range spans 12cm through to 18cm depending on the model — a useful benchmark for what genuinely comfortable looks like. For more on construction, our guide comparing foam vs spring sofa bed mattresses is a good next read.

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Chapter VI

How Furl chooses its mattresses

At Furl, mattress selection is taken just as seriously as the beds and sofas themselves. It comes down to one simple principle we’ve held since 2009:

That’s not a slogan. Every mattress in our edit has been personally tried and tested by the team — not for an afternoon in a showroom, but night after night, in our own homes, before it ever makes it into the range. Only the ones that still felt brilliant weeks later earned a place.

All Furl mattresses are made exclusively for us by Healthbeds in South Yorkshire — a family business that has been making high-quality mattresses since 1893, and is now run by the fourth generation of the same family. They share our way of working: high-quality products, made properly, built around what the customer actually wants.

We’ve deliberately kept the range small. Rather than overwhelm you with dozens of near-identical options, our edit is just four mattresses — each one distinct, so you can make a confident choice without second-guessing yourself:

Gel 1800 — temperature-regulating Cooler Revo Gel Foam for those who sleep hot.
Luxury 2000 — our best-selling medium-firm, supportive edge to edge.
Vegan 3200 — chemical-free latex, Vegan Society certified, recyclable at end of life.
Supreme Calm — a boutique-hotel feel, our softest and deepest at 30cm.

You can explore all four in detail on our storage bed mattress page.

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Chapter VII

Furl’s top tips for choosing a new mattress

We’ve spent more than fifteen years helping customers find the right mattress for their bed or sofa bed — and a few principles come up time and again. Keep these in mind and the decision gets a great deal simpler.

• Start with your sleeping position. Before anything else, it immediately narrows down the firmness and type that will work best for you.
• Don’t assume a higher price always means a better mattress. Focus on spring count, filling quality and depth instead of the headline figure.
• If you share a bed, pay attention to motion transfer. Pocket sprung is almost always the better choice for two sleepers, as the springs move independently.
• A no-turn mattress makes life much easier. Just rotate it every few months to keep it in good shape.
• For sofa beds, always check the mattress depth before buying. Anything under 12cm is likely to feel like a compromise for regular use.
• If in doubt, visit a showroom and actually lie on it. No amount of reading replaces trying it for yourself.

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Chapter VIII

Mattress FAQs

These are the questions our team gets asked most often. Here are straightforward answers to help make the decision easier.

How long should a mattress last?

A good-quality mattress should last around 8–10 years with proper care. Regular rotation helps — Furl’s mattresses are no-turn, so you simply rotate them every few months rather than flipping — and a mattress protector will extend its life further. Cheaper mattresses tend to need replacing sooner.

How do I know if my mattress needs replacing?

The clearest signs are waking up with aches and pains, visible sagging or lumps in the surface, or simply that it’s more than 8–10 years old and no longer feels supportive. If you sleep better in a hotel bed than your own, that’s usually a sign too.

What is the best mattress for back pain?

A medium-firm pocket sprung mattress is generally recommended for back pain, as it supports the spine without being so hard that it creates pressure points. Furl’s Luxury 2000 (firmness 5) is well suited here.

What is the best mattress for hot sleepers?

If you overheat at night, make temperature regulation a priority — gel-infused and latex mattresses tend to work best. Furl’s Gel 1800, with its Cooler Revo Gel Foam fillings, and the Vegan 3200, with naturally breathable latex, are both strong options.

What is the best mattress for allergy sufferers?

Look for hypoallergenic, chemical-free materials. Furl’s Vegan 3200 stands out here thanks to its chemical-free construction, and a good-quality mattress protector on top of any mattress will help further.