What is an Innerspring Mattress?

May 27, 2021 · Mattress Warehouse

There’s a very good chance that, at some point in your life, you’ve slept on an innerspring mattress. At your house, a friend’s house, a hotel – there was an innerspring mattress in there somewhere. What exactly is an innerspring mattress and how does it differ from other types of mattresses?

What is an Innerspring Mattress?

Innerspring mattresses are the oldest and most commonly used type of mattress. In fact, about 80 percent of homes use innerspring mattresses.

An innerspring mattress uses a metal (mostly steel) coil support system. There are several types of spring systems, including those with springs connected into a single unit and units with individually-wrapped pocketed coils.

The spring shapes, designs, coil gauge, and number of coils in a mattress can vary. The innerspring is covered by padding or upholstery materials, including various foams, fiber, and even additional layers of smaller steel springs.

In general, the greater the number of coils, the more points of support and the better the bed can contour and support the sleeper.

innerspring mattress

Difference Between an Innerspring Mattress and Other Mattresses?

While the innerspring was the de facto option for most of modern mattress history, it has waned slightly in popularity over the past few years as other options have entered the market, such as memory foam and hybrid mattresses.

Out of all the different types of mattresses out there, innerspring mattresses are generally seen as the longer lasting and most supportive of the bunch. The coil system within the mattress provides ample support, whereas a memory foam or hybrid mattress tends to contour to the curves of your body a bit more.

It's worth noting that an innerspring mattress has a bouncier feel than a memory foam mattress. It's less conforming than a memory foam mattress but more responsive to your body position as you move throughout the night. For this reason, innerspring mattresses tend to transfer motion more than a memory foam mattress would.

However, innerspring beds have also seen a number of advancements that have greatly improved the performance. The industry has switched over to a standard of using pocketed coil systems rather than having the coils tied together. Having individually wrapped coils allows them to move independently, allowing for greater conformability.

Pocketed coils also reduce motion transfer, making it less disruptive to sleep with a restless partner. The best innerspring mattresses use individually wrapped coils and often incorporate memory foam.

This isn’t to say that memory foam and hybrid mattresses aren’t good. In fact, many of these models can last just as long and be just as supportive as an innerspring mattress if treated with the proper care (rotating your mattress, using a mattress protector, etc.).

innerspring mattress

The Best Place to Find an Innerspring Mattress

The good news is that you don’t have to worry about which type of mattress is right for you. At Mattress Warehouse, science steps in and helps answer that question for you in the form of bedMATCH®.

Mattress Warehouse’s patented diagnostic sleep system bedMATCH® can narrow a list of hundreds of mattresses down to just a few that are perfect for you based on a number of factors. So, instead of wondering if you should get an innerspring mattress or a memory foam mattress, trust the sleep experts at Mattress Warehouse to help you get a great night’s sleep.