Choosing a mattress for your teen

It’s common practice to buy your child a new bed when it’s time to transition from a cot to a big bed. After this first mattress has been bought, a lot of parents will stick with the same one for years to come. Well, 10 years down the line, it might be time for a new mattress for your teen; not only does their growing body need an upgrade, but the poor bed does too!

Mattresses reach a point where they’re so worn out and broken that you might be better off sleeping on the hard floor. No matter their quality and past expensive price, mattresses reach a point where it’s simply better to buy a new one.

Furthermore, teens (especially boys), typically reach their adult weight at ages 15 to 17. They need a mattress to fully support their weight. Not only that, but teenage years are the years of growth spurts. It seems like your child is a little kid one day, and then suddenly the size of an adult the next. Teens need the most bodily support from mattresses during this age, in order to allow for proper development. This includes bones, posture, and everything else that comes along when growing up. Having a worn out mattress can be seriously detrimental towards their growth and development.

What type of bed should you consider for your teen, who seems to never sleep during the week, but stays in bed all weekend?

Here are 4 things to look at when buying the right mattress for your teen:

• Durability
• Encourage quality sleep
• Length
• Don’t skim on the price

1. Durability:

Durability is  of vital importance. You want your teen’s mattress to maintain maximum support for as long as possible. Keep in mind that the odds are, once your teen moves out, that mattress will probably be the only the one they’ll have until they can buy their own (far in future). It needs to be able to last them at least another 10 years.

If they don’t take the mattress with them, they will use it whilst living at home until they move out. After that, you can use it in a guestroom or as a bed for them to come home to on the weekends.

Therefore, when choosing your teen’s next mattress, pursue durability carefully. It’s more than just something for them to sleep on right now.

Besides, when is it not beneficial to have an extra mattress of high quality? 

2. Encourage Quality Sleep:

Teens may treat sleep like a throw away item, but they desperately need it. Studies have shown that teens actually need about 6-9 hours of sleep every night. We all know teens don’t generally get this much sleep, so it’s vital to make sure that the sleep they do get is restful, refreshing, and of good quality.

Reaching adolescence age, teens have grown out of the one-size-fits all children’s’ mattresses, and are developing their own sleeping style. A mattress that leaves them hollow eyed the morning before an important test definitely needs to go! The quality of sleep a teen gets can greatly influence mood swings, academic performance and motivation.

In order to properly improve all of these aspects, a mattress needs to support their spine and relieve pressure points. This prevents stiffness and back pain that can be caused by sitting bent over a desk studying.

Depending on your teen’s own personal preference, they might need a pocket coil (consider the Rest Assured Eton collection), memory foam (for example the Genessi Active Air series), or latex mattress (look at the Sealy Hybrid Sage Plush collection).

To see which type of mattress is ideal for your teen’s needs, click here.

 3. Length:

Something that is easily overlooked when buying a mattress is it’s length. Considering your teen is still growing, and at a rapid pace at that, it is important to ensure that you buy a mattress that will accommodate their future weight and size.

Many teens prefer a three quarter mattress, as it allows for more room to stretch out. Apart from that, if you have a son, ensure that you take into consideration how tall teen boy’s (and some girls) grow. He may need an extra length mattress to support his future tall frame. A good rule of thumb is that a mattress should be at least 10cm longer than the sleeper lying straight down without a pillow.

Read more about bed sizes here.

4. Don’t Skimp On the Price:

There are a lot of things in life that you can buy for a fraction of the price and still achieve the same results. Buying a mattress is not one of those things. Your mattress is the number one thing that affects your sleep, and, as we all know, sleep affects everything else. Your teen is at a pivotal point in their lives where important decisions are made about their future. Don’t put that at risk because you want to spend as little money as possible. Your child needs excellent support and superior rest to achieve what they need, to in order to be successful.

Furthermore, keep in mind that they might be needing this mattress for a long time, and starting off with bad quality will just end up with a pathetic mattress. Don’t skimp on the price, rather buy good quality that you can trust with your teen’s sleep. 

For all your mattress needs, browse our website, buy online, and have the bed delivered to your door, nationwide. At The Mattress Warehouse, customer service is king: let us help you find the right bed for your teen.

Invest in their life. Choose the right mattress today.