My Back Is Thanking Me (Profusely) for Getting This Soft, Supportive Mattress
For years, my wife and I have dreamed of swapping out our crummy old mattress, a hand-me-down from a relative that has now been in regular use for something like 12 years. It has not aged well. What was once a serviceable, if cheap, mattress has succumbed to the fate of so many late-term mattresses before it, and become a lumpy mess. As we both hit 30, the sagging coils and us-shaped divots on either side had begun to take a toll on our backs.
Plus, we’d decided that its size, a mere full, was no longer cutting it. We held off on getting a new one, though, because our tiny Boston apartment couldn’t handle anything larger. So when our lease ran out this year, and we found a new place with significantly more room to stretch our legs, it was go time. The queen mattress of our dreams would finally be ours, and the mattress we’d come to despise would be relegated to the second bedroom.
After a bit of mattress research, we ultimately landed on Saatva’s Loom & Leaf, which advertises “ultra-premium memory foam” subdivided into six layers, such as Lumbar Zone (™) Quilting, and a substrata of cooling gel. As we scrolled through the description, it was as if we could already feel the “body-hugging high-density memory foam core.”
It comes in two options: “firm” and “relaxed firm.” We opted for the latter, given the popularity of this particular model, and our status as committed side-sleepers. Saatva makes a point of emphasizing its free white-glove delivery service and promises that its mattresses are “never stuffed in a box,” a deviation from the trend among its competitors. We’d decided to hire movers as we changed apartments, so as to avoid having to bother our friends for help or risk tweaking our beleaguered backs in the process. So when it came time to upgrade, the prospect of not having to be responsible for the last leg of our new mattress’ journey was an appealing one.
The route to our bedroom involves negotiating two twisty staircases and lifting it over a balcony at an odd angle. The pair of delivery drivers, though, did not disappoint. I wish I’d timed them, but they made it safely upstairs, unwrapped the mattress, placed it on the frame, and were out the door in, conservatively, about 90 seconds. Our one and only gripe: the gloves were not white; they were blue and gray.
As for the mattress itself, we were impressed off the bat with the elegant trim, complete with a band of suede-like material, plus a gold-hued rope around the seams. It was almost a shame to immediately cover it with sheets and a comforter (We styled it with a floral paisley duvet cover from Cupacupa). On close inspection, the mattress’ several layers provide a well-balanced combination of firmness and give, with significantly more support than our worn-out old one could provide, resulting in a feeling of pressure-free weightlessness that has been close to life-changing.
After several weeks with it, the verdict: The two of us have never slept better. Both of us have also found ourselves, for some reason, waking up sleeping on our backs rather than on our sides. This, I gather, comes with certain supposed health benefits such as better spine alignment. Whatever the explanation for this change, we’ll take it. Our backs are already thanking us. And as for your back, if you happen to spend a night in our new guest bedroom, apologies in advance.