How To Make a Comfortable Bed

Sleep is key to our overall well being. Getting a good night’s rest is crucial when it comes to maintaining both your physical and mental health. However, many people struggle to sleep at night, which can have short- and long-term consequences.

While there are many factors that sleep problems can be attributed to, one thing getting in the way of good sleep can be your bedroom environment. More specifically, you may be lying down on a less than comfortable bed each night, making it hard to get the sleep you need.

Luckily, making your bed more comfortable isn’t difficult to achieve—you can improve comfort and, in turn, improve sleep quality once you understand what makes a bed comfortable. In this article, we show you how to create the most comfortable bed so that you can rest easy every single night. Keep reading to learn how to make your bed super comfortable, or use the links below to skip to any particular tip in this article.

• Invest In a Good Mattress
• Upgrade Your Pillows
• Consider a Specialized Pillow System
• Compare Sheets
• Keep Throw Pillows and Blankets Simple
• Adjust Your Bedroom Environment
• Wrapping Up

1. Invest In a Good Mattress

A high-quality mattress can make a world of difference when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep. Not only can a good mattress make you more comfortable, but it can also promote healthy spinal alignment and prevent problems with neck or back pain.

It’s important to note that there’s not one single mattress that works best for everyone. Rather, the best mattress for you will depend on your personal preferences, such as your typical sleeping posture, preferred materials, and budget. Below, we break down the different mattress types and explain what to look for when mattress shopping.

Mattress types

There are a wide range of mattress types, each of which offers unique advantages and drawbacks. Some of the most common mattress types include:

• Foam: Offers body contouring capabilities and pressure relief.
• Spring: Typically inexpensive but don’t provide much pressure relief.
• Hybrid: Provides some body contouring capabilities and a bouncier surface.
• Latex: A durable mattress type that offers bounce and some body contouring capabilities.
• Airbed: Firmness can be adjusted and can even be customized to different sides of the bed.

Firmness

The firmness of your mattress refers to how hard or soft it feels. Your weight is one major factor that impacts the ideal firmness of your mattress. Extra firm mattresses tend to be good for heavier individuals, while extra soft mattresses may be more suitable for lighter individuals. 

Sleeping posture

Your typical sleeping posture can also impact the type of mattress you’ll feel most comfortable on. In many cases, side sleepers do well in soft mattresses that provide high-level body contouring capabilities. On the other hand, back sleepers may require a firmer mattress that feels comfortable and offers sufficient lower back support.

2. Upgrade Your Pillows

You lay your head down on your pillows every night, so they can play a major role in how comfortable you are at night. Thus, if you want to make a comfortable bed, consider replacing your current pillows to accommodate your preferences and sleeping style. As you look for new pillows, take the following factors into account.

Loft

A pillow’s loft describes its thickness. A low loft tends to be less than three inches, while a high loft is five inches or more. When upgrading your pillows, it’s important to find pillows with a loft that effectively supports your head and neck.

Support

A pillow’s support describes how firm it is. It’s essential to find a good balance between softness and firmness in order to get the right level of support. While your first thought may be that an ultra-soft pillow is best, it can actually cause alignment issues and soreness due to a lack of head and neck support. Conversely, a pillow that’s too firm can get in the way of comfort at night.

Shape

Pillows can lose their shape over time due to fill materials becoming worn out or compressed. Certain pillows will need to be fluffed on a regular basis. However, pillows made from materials such as latex and solid foam tend to hold their shape better than other materials.

Material

The material a pillow is made out of can affect comfort, support, temperature regulation, and lifespan. Investing in pillows made with high-quality materials typically ensures that you get pillows that perform better and last longer.

Pressure relief

A supportive pillow can help relieve the pressure that places stress on certain parts of the body at night. This often depends on your preferred sleeping position. Side sleepers tend to feel pressure on their shoulders and hips, while back sleepers feel pressure in their lower back. Search for a pillow that’s supportive enough to relieve the particular pressures you’re facing.

3. Consider a Specialized Pillow System

For those who have particular comfort concerns, a specialized pillow system can help make your bed more comfortable. For instance, MedCline offers the following specialized pillow systems to help those with specific concerns:

• Reflux Relief System: Elevates your torso and keeps you on your side through the night, which is the ideal sleeping position to prevent nighttime acid reflux.
• Shoulder Relief System: Provides a specialized arm pocket to remove pressure on your arm so you can sleep comfortably at night.
• Therapeutic Body Pillow: Provides support that can help with spinal alignment while easing neck pain, lower back pain, and pains related to pregnancy.

Each of these specialized pillow systems offers targeted support for individuals who have trouble sleeping at night due to an injury, health condition, or other ailment.

4. Compare Sheets

The type of sheets you use can significantly impact how comfortable you are at night. And, if you live in a particularly hot or cold climate, sheets can also play a major role in regulating temperature while you sleep. When shopping for sheets, consider the following factors.

Material

When it comes to sheets, different materials will offer different levels of durability and comfort. The materials used will also impact the price of the sheets. Common materials include cotton, polyester, linen, bamboo, silk, and microfiber.

Thread Count

The general sentiment is that a higher thread count means more comfortable and luxurious sheets. However, this is only true to an extent. Once you start getting into really high thread counts, the difference in comfort is marginal. Sheets with a thread count between 200 and 300 generally provide the average consumer with a good mix of comfort and affordability.

Temperature regulation

As we mentioned above, sheets play a large role in temperature regulation in bed. If you’re a hot sleeper, a breathable sheet type like percale may suit you well. Or, if you’re a cold sleeper, then a set of flannel sheets may be what you need to keep warm at night.

Size

Sheets come in different sizes according to the size of your mattress. Make sure to pick out appropriately-sized sheets for the optimal fit.

5. Keep Throw Pillows and Blankets Simple

Throw pillows and blankets can help make a bed feel cozier, allowing you to have the comfiest bed possible. However, it’s important not to go overboard with the throw pillows and blankets—too many extras can make your bed crowded and messy. With just a couple of throw pillows and a blanket, it’ll be easier to make your bed in the morning. Simplicity and cleanliness are key to creating a relaxing environment.

6. Adjust Your Bedroom Environment

In order to sleep comfortably at night, you have to optimize your bedroom environment. This can be accomplished by improving your sleep hygiene and creating a relaxing atmosphere that’s easy to fall asleep in.

To create a bedroom environment that helps you sleep at night, you need to make your surroundings comfortable. Your mattress, sheets, and pillows should all be tailored to your specific preferences. Additionally, you might introduce items like an essential oil diffuser or blackout curtains to add an extra element of relaxation to your bedroom environment.

Wrapping Up

If you’re wondering how to make a comfortable bed, know that several factors go into the process. You have to focus on each element of your bed—including your mattress, pillows, and sheets—to ensure you get high-quality sleep at night.

For those who need an added layer of comfort or support, try out a specialized sleep pillow system from MedCline. From the Reflux Relief System to our bed wedge system, we offer products that are specially designed to provide high levels of support and comfort that enable you to stay in the best sleeping position and get a good night’s rest. To learn more about how our products can help improve your sleep, chat with one of our Sleep Specialists today.