There four main types of mattresses - Pocket Sprung, Open Coil, Orthopedic and Memory Foam mattresses.

Pocket Sprung Mattresses

These are the most common type of mattress and are arguably the most comfortable mattresses, as they contain individual pocket springs which are linked together effectively. The result is a luxuriously comfortable mattress which moves with your body and movements throughout the night.

In the past mattresses were designed with one or two large pocket springs inside them (known as open sprung or open coil mattresses).

As you can imagine, it didn’t take much for these large springs to become worn, and because of this these types of mattresses become lumpy very quickly.

Pocket sprung mattresses are different because they contain hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of individually pocketed springs. This means that each spring is placed under less strain and as a result they last longer and provide a much more even level of support.

The 3 Most Popular Pocket Sprung mattresses are:

1. Silentnight Gold Label Mattress
2. Rest Assured Restapocket 800 Mattress
3. Silentnight Special Sleep Mattress

Memory Foam Mattresses

Memory Foam is a new type of polyurethane foam and is sometimes termed Visco elastic foam.

Originally discovered by NASA, memory foam started to be incorporated into significant numbers of mattresses in the 1990s, and over the past decade it has become incredibly popular, so much so that it is now competing with pocket sprung technology for the most popular type of mattress.

Memory foam works by cleverly adjusting to the body weight and temperature, carefully molding itself around the individual that is sleeping. When the weight and temperature is removed the material then adjusts to its normal shape. As a consequence Memory Foam mattresses tend to be extremely comfortable.

One area of caution is that memory foam isn’t ideal for people who tend to move around a lot during the night, as the foam does take a little time to re-mould itself around your body.

The 3 Most Popular Memory Foam mattresses are:

• Sealy Millionaire Memory Mattress
• Silentnight Memory Sleep Mattress
• Myers Double Memory Deluxe Mattress

Orthopedic Mattresses

Sometimes referred to as orthopaedic mattresses, the unique selling point of orthopedic mattresses is that they are designed specifically to provide superior support to your back and spine. Typically these mattresses tend to have firmness levels of medium to firm and firm.

When you sleep your spine forms an ‘S’ shape naturally. Therefore you need a mattress to provide sufficient support to maintain this ‘S’ shape, otherwise it’s possible that you’ll develop back problems at a later date.

The 3 Most Popular Orthopedic mattresses are:

• Sealy Millionaire Ortho Mattress
• Sealy Backcare Elite Mattress
• Silentnight Ortho Sleep Mattress

Open Coil Mattresses

Open coil is a less advanced technology compared to pocket sprung and as a result open sprung mattresses tend to be less expensive.

As explained above open coil mattress contain one or two large springs rather than the hundreds of individual springs that pocket sprung mattresses contain. Because of this open coil mattresses tend to become strained and lumpy much more quickly.

Despite their lower cost buying an open coil mattress is not recommended. You’re much better off buying a cheap pocket sprung mattress as the quality of the mattress will be significantly higher.