What do you look for in a mattress? Something very comfortable, soft, and bouncy, or a mattress that provides you with the right firmness and support?
Buying a new mattress can be tricky as there are a lot of varieties available both online and in-store. When shopping for a mattress, it's important to know that the materials can make or break the quality of sleep you'll have for years to come. While it's hard to find a comfortable, supportive, and durable mattress using just one material, mattress manufacturers have come up with hybrid varieties that can give you the benefits that a standard mattress doesn't.
Curious about hybrid mattresses? Read through this quick guide to help you with your mattress buying choice.
What is a Hybrid Mattress?
You might have already heard about the standard memory foam, latex, and innerspring mattresses. These popular materials deliver various unique benefits. Memory foam mattresses provide comfort and body contour, while latex mattresses offer bounce and a more breathable feeling. In addition, innerspring mattresses present firm support and a flexible response to movements.
A hybrid mattress combines these benefits in one unit. With a hybrid mattress, you can experience the comfort and support you get from the different mattress units. It presents a combination of foam and innerspring components to create one versatile unit.
A hybrid mattress contains a combination of comfort and support foam layers enclosing a coil system to maintain your spine alignment while giving you the proper comfort that your body needs. Look at it as having a custom mattress. Others call this a high-end mattress.
Why Do You Need a Hybrid Mattress?
Combining the properties of memory foam, latex, and innerspring materials, hybrid mattresses aim to maximise the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of each material to create an ideal mattress for many types of sleepers.
Pros
A hybrid mattress is responsive
Hybrid mattresses balance the contouring comfort of foam material with the responsiveness of innerspring. This makes a hybrid mattress both conforming and bouncy, reducing the feeling of being stuck.
A hybrid mattress can help you alleviate body pain
Body pressure and inappropriate body support can cause lots of pain when you wake up. Hybrid mattresses combine the benefits of memory foam that contours pressure points with innersprings that provide the right firmness to even out your weight.
A hybrid mattress is supportive
A hybrid mattress provides proper support for the natural shape of your spine while evening out your weight during sleep.
A hybrid mattress is breathable
Unlike a pure memory foam mattress, a hybrid mattress does not trap heat. The spaces between coils give a hybrid mattress room to breathe. Hybrid mattresses with a cooling gel or open-cell layer provide better ventilation.
A hybrid mattress promotes smooth motion transfer
Pocketed coils move independently of each other, reducing the creaking sound and disturbing motion transfer when your partner tosses and turns during sleep.
Cons
A hybrid mattress is pricier than a standard mattress
Because of the combination of various materials and its benefits for sleep, a hybrid mattress notably costs more than regular mattress varieties. However, this more expensive mattress is a good investment for healthy sleep.
A hybrid mattress is heavy
With all the materials used to make a hybrid mattress, a unit is considerably heavier than a standard mattress. Moving a hybrid mattress can be a challenge. Moreover, hybrid mattresses can’t be flipped as they have specific comfort and support layers. But you may rotate your hybrid mattress to keep the weight distribution and quality fair.
What are the Components of a Hybrid Mattress?
A hybrid mattress comprises a comfort layer, transition layer, support layer, and base layer.
Pillow Top Layer
Some hybrid mattresses come with a pillow-top layer as additional cushioning. This layer is usually 1-2 inches thick.
Comfort Layer
Conventional innerspring mattresses have comfort layers made with cotton, standard foam, or polyester. Hybrid mattress comfort layers, on the other hand, comprise memory foam, cooling gel, or latex materials. This layer is usually soft or bouncy, providing the proper comfort and pressure relief your body needs during sleep. Comfort layers made with gel materials offer a breathable sensation beneficial to sleepers, especially during warmer seasons.
Transition Layer
The transition layer is also made of foam or cooling materials that further provide a bounce for even weight distribution and extra breathability.
Support Layer/ Support Core
The support layer is made up of coils, usually pocketed coils, that respond individually to movements. Pocketed coils are wrapped in fabric. While innerspring mattresses are more prone to producing creaky noises and lack motion support, independent coils reduce motion transfer, making them ideal for shared bed spaces.
Base Layer
The lowest layer of a hybrid mattress, the 1-inch base layer, is made of foam to keep the mattress stable and sturdier.
What are the Materials Used for a Hybrid Mattress?
Memory Foam
Memory foam is one of the most popular materials used to create hybrid mattresses. Memory foam, or viscoelastic polyurethane foam, is soft and conforming as it follows your body's curves as a response to your weight and body heat. This foam moulds into your body, helping your muscles relax.
While giving you plush comfort, memory foam also comes with some drawbacks. If you are a combination sleeper, a memory foam mattress can be too malleable, making you feel stuck instead of being free to move. The good thing about hybrid mattresses is that they combine this malleable material with firmer and bouncier options to balance the contour and give you stable support.
Latex
Unlike memory foam, latex material is bouncier and firmer. Made from organic rubber material, a hybrid latex mattress has the right density that does not sink your body in and traps your heat. Although more expensive, mattress buyers invest in latex units that provide optimum comfort and durability.
Innerspring System
Innersprings are composed of a continuous system of coils that provide structure to the mattress. Innerspring systems make a mattress firmer. Innersprings may be connected or individually enclosed. Connected innerspring mattresses are firm but do not support a flexible transfer of movement. Pocketed spring mattresses or individually encased pocketed springs are more versatile and support smoother movement transfer. These individually pocketed springs also give contour comfort.
Buying a New Mattress? Check out Megafurniture's online catalogue of high-quality memory foam, latex, pocketed spring, high-end, and hybrid mattresses, best for any sleeper.