Can the Casper Mattress bring calm to GTG’s most restless sleeper? Victoria Woodhall puts it to the test
It’s a scary thought that nearly half of us are getting just six hours or less sleep a night and that four out of five complain of disturbed or inadequate ‘toxic’ sleep (that’s according to a survey by the Sleep Council). I’m one of them – tossing, turning, overheating. My sister won’t share a hotel room with me because she says I’m an ‘angry sleeper'. I even gave my husband a black eye once (no lie) and knew nothing about it.
An uncomfortable bed knocks even more time off the sleep clock. People who complained that their bed was uncomfortable slept nearly one hour less than those that didn’t, says a further finding by the Sleep Council. We know that Alzheimer’s, diabetes and weight gain have all been linked to lack of sleep; it’s never been more pressing to make sure we get quality shuteye.
So could the Casper Mattress give me some valuable extra hours (and save my husband’s other eye?). I put it to the test.
What is it?
Newly awarded a Best Buy by Which? (January 2018), the Casper Mattress is a highly-engineered piece of slumber technology. Designers, researchers and engineers spent years and created umpteen prototypes in order to simplify the sleep experience into the perfect universally comfortable mattress. Their sleep engineers have been taking customer feedback for more than four years and improving the product based on what helps real people sleep.
A key feature is the special memory foam base layer, which pressure maps the body. “If you look at it on a molecular level, it’s actually melting at your body temperature - it kinda melts away from you,” enthuses Jeff Chapin, Casper Co-founder and Chief of Product.
In a sprung mattress, bodyweight is taken up by the springs - the more springs you have the more support it gives. Memory foam, by contrast, is made up of millions of particles which support every square inch of the body. The Casper has four different foam strata – a durable support foam at the base, an active transition foam layer above it followed by the memory foam layer. It’s then topped with an open-cell latex layer which is breathable, so you don’t overheat. It also has what Jeff calls “a nice bounce for bedtime sports, or whatever you’re going to do in bed.”
Who’s it for?
Everyone. This really is one-size-fits-all as it softens and shapes to fit your individual body, while providing plenty of support and temperature control. With so many mattress options available, it’s hard to believe that there could be such a thing as a universal product. In the past, I’ve spent days debating spring count, fabrics, buttons, bounce and thicknesses and still ended up buying on best guess. But Casper are so confident that they offer a 100-day money back trial. They’ve received plenty of endorsements, having been voted The Independent's number one mattress and given a near-perfect 9.8/10 by The Good House Keeping Institute.
What’s it like?
It arrives as quickly as your Amazon order, in just two to three days. The unboxing is an event - I defy you not to film it as you take it out of the Tardis-like cardboard box and watch it wriggle into life before your eyes. Once unleashed, the foam expands to form the perfect rectangular shape (see what happened when we unboxed one at Get The Gloss). It’s covered in a washable cotton jersey protector, has a ten-year warranty and comes in eight sizes from single to king including EU sizes as well.
The verdict:
Sleeping on the Casper was like a night in a five-star hotel. It’s a glorious and slightly childlike feeling being hugged by your mattress and supported at the same time. These are subtle but powerful relaxation cues for the body, that allow tension to melt away. I did indeed sleep very deeply. You feel weirdly fresh in the morning, too, which I’m sure is due to the exceptional breathability of the Casper – the open-cell foams have tiny pores to let excess hot air escape.
Casper have made buying a mattress utterly stress-free – there’s only one type to choose and they come and pick it up if you don’t like it (you don’t have to get it back in the box). It’s a mattress that takes the pressure off the buying process as well as off your body and mind. Who’d have thought there’d be such a thing as #mattressgoals? If you don’t believe me, try spending a night on a Casper.
The Casper Mattress costs between £350 and £650. Buy yours with a special 10% GTG discount with the code getsleep10 by heading over to the Casper website.