Mattress

Not many people think about what makes a mattress comfortable, while other designs are virtually unusable, so it's worth running through a few guidelines to find out why this could happen.

• Durability – Firstly, good mattresses aren't a disposable product that works well for a year or two, before becoming degraded and useless. The types of mattress available from budget furniture stores will usually fall apart within a couple of years with normal usage. Good versions are engineered to last for a decade or more.

• Hardness – The best mattresses are ones which balance firmness and give. Cheap mattresses feel incredibly soft when you first buy them, and they might work brilliantly until their form starts to fail. But it inevitably will.

• Personalisation – Having said that a balance between firmness and softness is optimal, that's not always easy to strike for one straightforward reason: we are all different.

Those are pretty general themes to think about when purchasing a mattress. But there are also technical considerations that will crop up again and again as you browse mattress listings. Here's a brief guide to some key terms and how they could influence your buying decision:

• Spring numbers – If you choose an innerspring mattress, the number of springs is very important. Basically, the more springs a mattress has, the firmer it will be, because springs deliver support.

• Filling – The materials used to fill mattresses vary, and can make a big difference. Cheaper sprung mattresses will use cotton or synthetics, with no other layers. However, more expensive varieties could employ a range of materials to supplement cotton. For instance, silk or mohair can be added to make beds as soft as possible – although this will add considerably more to the price tag. More commonly, a mix of cotton and wool will be used to enhance a mattress' softness. In non-sprung mattresses, synthetics are used in layers. We'll discuss how these materials differ when we come to talk about foam mattresses, as it's easy to be deceived here.

• Size – It's an obvious point, but mattresses have to be the same size as the bed they are intended to be used with. In the UK, mattress sizes range from small single mattress (75cm x 190cm) to double mattress (120cm x 190cm) or super king-size (180cm x 200cm). Double-check that you've found a deal for one with the correct dimensions.

• Trial periods – These days, most mattresses come with trial periods, often for 100 days or more. Not every buyer realises this is the case, or how to exercise their warranty rights if the mattress doesn't measure up. When buying, feel free to inquire about warranty terms, and check that ordering a replacement or refund is straightforward. Finding the right mattress is a personal matter so don't be stuck with a product that doesn't enhance your sleep.

Now that know a bit more about what constitutes a good mattress, it makes sense to introduce the most important types that buyers will encounter at hotukdeals: