A good mattress can make all the difference in the world. After a good night’s sleep, you will feel rested, alert, and healthy -- ready to take on the world. If this is true -- and it is – then why do so many people continue to sleep on old, worn-out mattresses? Night after night, month after month, year after year… why do so many people suffer? The answer is often quite simple—many people are intimidated by the prospect of mattress shopping.

There are so many mattresses available and in so many different styles and price ranges. How to choose? The first step is to do some introductory research. Get an idea for what is available. After some basic research, you should have some idea as to what you like -- and what you don’t.

Armed with this preliminary knowledge, it’s time to take a trip to the mattress store. Many local furniture and bedding stores sell mattresses. Many areas also have stand-alone mattress stores. These will have names like Mattress Giant, Mattress City, and Mattress King. These stores often have an excellent selection of mattresses. What’s more, since these stores only sell mattresses, their employees are usually well-versed in the features of each. This type of mattress store is a great place to start in your search for the perfect bed. They usually feature several different types of mattresses set up on display. Test them out. Lie down. Take a nap. Bounce a little bit—test their firmness, their resiliency.

Once you know what you’re looking for, the Internet is another option for finding a mattress store. Just make sure you factor in the cost of shipping when you are comparison-shopping. Overstock often offers mattresses at deep discounts over retail. They offer a variety of styles, from pillowtop to memory foam.

With a little research and knowledge, mattress shopping can be a pleasant experience.