There is nothing worse than an uncomfortable nights sleep. You toss and turn and enter a sort of dirty sleep that you wake from feeling more tired than before you went to bed. Sleeping is so important – did you know that after just 17 hours of being awake (that's 6am – 11pm) we have the same decreased working potential as after drinking a small glass of white wine? Well, we do, and having the right mattress is something which hugely affects your kip, but finding the right mattress can seem like firing an arrow into the darkness.

Generally they say you should replace your mattress every 8 – 10 years, however, weight loss/gain and other health issues can also mean a change in your sleep requirements. And experts now recommend that people aged 40+ should be replacing their mattress every 5 – 6 years.

From Tempur to open coil mattresses; testing them in the shop is the perfect way to find out which one suits you. A study showed that after 15 minutes lying on various mattresses, customers were able to return months later and find the same mattress they chose initially, so make sure you spend time lying in your new bed. Everyone has different sleeping requirements, for example the lighter you are, the firmer a mattress will feel, but a good mattress will cradle and support your back.

Finding out what you're looking at is important too, so here are a few tips on finding the right sort of bounce.

1. The Pocket Spring mattress

This type of mattress is made from a grid of springs which sit in their own pocket of fabric (hence the name).The springs are not wired together so they can all work independently. This makes sense because it means that weight on one spring won't affect the springs around it.

Top quality pocket mattresses often have a ‘spring within a spring' set-up which means that independent springs give more support to the sleeper and also last for longer! This also creates a mattress which responds differently to individual body shape and sizes.

2. The open coil mattress

The open coil is the most prevalent mattress on the market. These are made by open coil springs, usually 5 – 6 springs high. The variation in firmness is usually found by the thickness of the wire, the number of coils and the number of twists in each coil.

Extra springs can be added to imrprove support and a good open coil mattress with spread the weight across the mattress, which stops couples bumping into each other in the night!

3. Tempur and memory foam

These mattresses are top notch as far as comfort is concerned. Experts agree that a good mattress will conform to your body, not the other way round, and these mattresses do just that. They have no springs at all because they are made from foam so they last for a long time as well.

Of course, traditional foam wouldn't be so comfortable to sleep on and would certainly not give you the support you need to sleep. (Here comes the science bit!) The difference is that while regular foam is made exclusively from ‘closed cells', which are like billions of little balloons all squeezed together with hardly any air between them.

Memory foam is made up of ‘open cells' and these act like billions of balloons with holes in them. There are millions of tracks where air passes in and around them, and where warm air can escape (keeping you cooler). Because the air is free to move around, the mattress changes shape to adapt to your position!

4. Comfort control mattress

We also offer a Comfort control mattress. These mattresses mean that you don't need to worry about finding the right mattress to suit you and your partner. These come with a handset and you can adjust your side to ensure it is perfect for you every night.

We hope that this has made your journey to find the best nights sleep a little easier and opened your eyes to the variations between the mattresses on offer. To take the mystery away from deciding what tension and comfort level is right for you, pop in store and try our diagnostic mattress which is designed to fit you for the perfect nights sleep.