If you are waking up with aches and pains it could be time for a new bed. I was waking up with a pain in my hips each morning… So, I set out to replace my bed. Wow…. Choosing a new mattress was more difficult than I ever imagined that it would ever be. There are so many options.

I wanted to find the best bed out there. I did lots of research. I was desperate for a good nights sleep and looked at many options from the $10,000 Dux bed to the $1000 department store special.

My budget ruled out the beds that were over $10,000…. (so beds like the VI-Spring were automatically out of the running out). I was hoping to spend less than $5,000 on a bed, but I wasn’t ruling anything out. In my mind it is better to spend more on a bed (where you spend about a third of my day) and less on a car (where I spend about 5 hours a week).

First I checked out on-line reviews. I was really amazed at the wide variety of opinions. It seemed that reviewers either loved or hated the particular mattress that they were reviewing. I couldn’t find a single mattress that had all good reviews. I thought that the Duxiana would have had mostly positive reviews but it didn’t rate any higher than the Stearns & Foster, Serta, Simmons, or Sealy. Boy was I surprised! I was hoping that by reading the online reviews, there would be a clear winner. Sadly there wasn’t one. That meant that I would have to go test dozens of mattresses.

I spent the next few weeks going from mattress store to mattress store. I tried the specialty shops and the department stores. It was interesting. The first question that every store I went to asked was “how much do you want to spend?” I was somewhat taken back by this. I wanted the most comfortable bed not the cheapest or most expensive. I think that I tried out almost every bed on the market. Some were quickly dismissed while others warranted a second longer trial. I didn’t look at the price tags I didn’t want to be swayed by price. The number of choices was overwhelming. Finally, I narrowed it down to 3 similar beds. Since the beds were similar, I made my final decision based upon the final price. My local department store had a special going; there was no tax, no delivery fee, they would take away the old mattress and box spring at no charge and throw in a new frame.

So, what is the best bed you ask? Well unfortunately, I cannot tell you what the best bed for you would be. But for me, it was a Stearns and Fosters 100% natural latex mattress and box spring. I ended up being a little surprised in the end, I started my search thinking that the most expensive bed (I was leaning towards a Dux bed) would be the most comfortable but found that a lower-priced bed (I spent about $2000) was best for me.