Why There’s No Need to Flip Your Natural Latex Foam Mattress
Most traditional mattresses needed to be flipped every few months to extend their lifespans. Natural latex mattresses, on the other hand, don’t need flipping. Here’s why.
- Resilience. Latex is a naturally resilient material that literally “bounces back” every morning when you get up. The unique cellular construction of botanical latex helps your mattress retain its shape over time even without flipping—as long as it’s properly supported.
- Foundation. Latex mattresses should be sold with mattress foundations specially designed to support latex foam. When a latex mattress is properly supported by a manufacturer-approved latex mattress foundation, it can perform at its best and won’t need to be flipped. This is in contrast to some inner spring mattresses, which will need to be flipped even when they rest on a proper box spring.
- Layering. Many latex mattresses are constructed in layers, with a supportive “core” underneath and a softer “comfort layer” at the top. Flipping a mattress like this can actually harm the construction, since the top comfort layer isn’t designed to support the weight of the entire mattress. It may also be less comfortable to sleep on the bottom core since it’s designed to be firmer.
- Lifespan. Even without flipping, quality all-natural latex foam mattresses can easily last 20 years and may last 40 or more. This lifespan is longer than even the best inner spring mattresses, no matter how regularly they’re flipped.
A latex mattress may require its own kind of maintenance—unglued layered mattresses, for example, should be zipped out of their covering once or twice a year and checked for the unlikely presence moisture or mold. Flipping, however, isn’t something you’ll need to worry about when you buy a latex mattress—its unique physical properties make it a long-lasting and sag-free mattress material with the right support and care.
Author Bio: +Michelle Gordon is a sleep expert who researches and writes about sleep and health, and is an online publisher for the latex mattress specialist Latexmattress.org.