Does the two-sided mattress belong in the 1950s, along with the string mop and the feather duster?

If you’re anything like the 75% of Americans who report disturbed sleep several nights a week, this question probably matters more to you than you think. You’re likely to be having more sick days as a result of poor sleep, feeling cranky after a bad night, and wondering what you can do about it.

The good news is, there’s solid evidence that you can change this by switching to a better mattress.

But how can you do that?

An excellent option is to go for something adaptable, like a bespoke two-sided mattress with different levels of firmness and cooling gel layers, which can be flipped and rotated to provide different levels of support.

But aren’t two-sided mattresses the old fashioned way? Can they really measure up to the one-sided for versatility, durability, and ease of maintenance?

Let’s put them head to head—or rather, headboard to headboard—and find out.

Two-Sided Mattress Versus One-Sided, Round One: Versatility

Our bodies go through changes (like pregnancy, arthritis, other musculoskeletal problems and back pain) and having an adaptable sleeping solution means you can give yours what it needs at the right time.

While there are one-sided mattresses with modern technology (like memory foam) providing support for some of these conditions, the drawback is that they don’t give you an option to change things later.

A two-sided mattress with a choice of different levels of firmness and gel layers that react to body heat is a much more versatile option.

Experiencing hot flashes? Flip to the side with the cooling gel layer. Need a softer sleeping surface? Just flip to the softer side.

Round Two: Durability

Months of uneven weight bearing down on your mattress equals a lumpy surface. A lumpy surface equals poor sleep.

With a one-sided mattress, your options for balancing out weight distribution are limited to rotating it (and then only if your mattress doesn’t have different “head” and “feet” ends).

A two-sided mattress solves this problem easily, as you have many more ways to combine flipping and rotating to make sure that no one side gets too much wear.

Round Three: Maintenance

Traditional mattresses have often been extremely heavy and rigid, so hauling them off the bed to flip was a chore you might have been tempted to put off forever—especially if you had a bad back thanks to sleeping poorly.

Not so in 2019. Two-sided mattresses are available in lightweight, easy to clean versions that come in more than one piece, meaning they can be flipped and replaced in less than five minutes.

Still Hesitating?

If you’re still unsure whether it’s worth replacing your mattress, check out trusted online sleep guide for more information and have a think about what your priorities are when it comes to sleep.

If you see flipping a mattress as a chore to be avoided at all costs, the one-sided mattress has a clear advantage, but you can’t make any changes and it can easily accumulate damage from uneven weight distribution.

If your priority is for a high-quality purchase which can be changed to suit your needs and you don’t mind some (very minimal) maintenance to make this happen, then the two-sided mattress is the winner.