How Often Should You Flip or Rotate Your Mattress?

Flipping or rotating your bed evens out its wear and extends its lifespan. Because mattresses are an expensive investment, you want them to last at least ten years while encouraging spinal alignment and quality sleep.

For clarification, when we say rotating, we mean the action act of rotating your bed 180 degrees. When we say flipping, we mean turning your mattress over on the opposite side and also rotating it 180 degrees.

Our article explores why you should rotate or flip your mattress and how often you should do both. It will also discuss which beds you should (and should not) flip or rotate.

How Often Should I Rotate or Flip My Mattress?

Every mattress is different, so one bed may require different care than another—this includes flipping or rotating. Check with the mattress company to see how often you should rotate or flip your bed.

Why Should I Rotate or Flip My Mattress?

Sleeping in the same place every night causes a mattress to deteriorate or sag—this jeopardizes your spinal alignment, possibly leading to back pain. Rotating your mattress evens out the wear and tear so your mattress won’t begin to sag in one place.

Mattress maintenance tip: To make rotating or flipping your mattress easier to remember, mark the day you perform this chore on a calendar.

How Do I Rotate and Flip My Mattress?

Mattresses are difficult to move around, especially on your own. Getting someone to help you rotate or flip your mattress will make the process easier, quicker, and safer.

Rotating A Mattress

Before you start moving your bed around, prepare your bedroom by moving furniture and any breakable decor away from your bed. Strip off any blankets, pillows, and bed sheets so you can firmly grasp the mattress.

• First, lift the mattress. Move it away from the headboard and lift it above the footboard.

• Walk clockwise around the bed and set the mattress on the frame once you’ve turned it 180 degrees.

Flipping A Mattress

Once again, you will want to move anything breakable away from your bed and take off your bedding to make handling your mattress easier.

• Lift your mattress above the footboard and away from the headboard.

• Rotate the mattress clockwise by 90 degrees before setting it down on the bed frame.

• Raise the mattress onto its side and slide it down toward the footboard, so you can set it down on the opposite side.

• Lift the mattress and rotate it clockwise until it aligns with the foundation.

What Mattresses Need Flipping?

If a company advertises a mattress as “flippable,” you can choose to sleep on either side. Flipping your mattress allows you to try out different firmnesses, and it prolongs the lifespan of either side. Note that only mattresses advertised as “flippable” or “dual-sided” should be flipped.

What Mattresses Don’t Need Flipping?

As a general rule, you should not flip a mattress unless it’s advertised as “flippable.” Most modern mattresses are built from the base up and can only bear weight on one sleep surface. Sleeping directly on the base obviously changes the mattress’s feel, and it can ruin the mattress, too.

Support layers can deteriorate if they are directly under you—they need comfort and transition layers above them to disperse pressure and preserve the structural integrity of the bed.

If you’re unsure whether you should flip or rotate your bed, you can check with the mattress’s manufacturer.

Memory foam mattresses are constructed with specific layers from the base up to promote better sleep. Flipping a memory foam bed causes the base layer to lie face up, leaving the comfort layer to support the mattress and leading to rapid material deterioration. Sleeping directly on the base can also cause discomfort and pain.

Pillow top innerspring mattresses are made with specific layers to improve sleep quality. Flipping a pillow top bed causes you to sleep on the coil core, which isn’t comfortable. Flipping a pillow top mattress also compresses the pillow top, causing it to lose its plushness.

Hybrid mattresses have memory foam or latex comfort layers and a coil support system. Flipping this type of mattress and sleeping on its unintended side damages the comfort layer and reduces the coil core’s durability.

When To Get A New Mattress

Flipping or rotating your mattress doesn’t prevent your bed from wearing—it only prolongs your mattress’s lifespan a little bit. Every bed needs replacing at some point (even the most high-quality mattresses don’t last a lifetime). Here are a few signs you need a new bed:

• Some areas in the mattress are more comfortable than others
• The bed has visible indentations or sagging
• The bed makes noise
• It’s over 10 years old
• You wake up tired and sore

If you’re seeing some signs that it’s time to replace your mattress, you can most likely use your warranty to get a replacement or repairs done; contact the mattress company or read your warranty to see if you can file a claim.

What Mattress Firmness Do I Need?

You can identify your perfect mattress firmness by considering your preferred sleeping position and body type.

• Back sleepers need a firm or medium-firm mattress to preserve spinal alignment and alleviate pressure points in the tailbone and shoulders.

• The best mattress for side sleepers has a soft, medium-soft, or medium feel to relieve pressure and pain in the shoulders and hips.

• Stomach sleeping overextends the back muscles and spine, leading to chronic back pain; as a result, we suggest switching from stomach sleeping to side sleeping. If you cannot make the switch, a medium-firm to firm bed encourages neutral alignment and a good night’s sleep.

• Heavy sleepers need firmer mattresses to prevent their hips and shoulders from bowing into the bed, misaligning the spine.

• Light sleepers don’t need firm mattresses to preserve spinal alignment since they don’t weigh enough to sink into the materials. They need softer beds to alleviate pressure points.

Saving on a New Mattress

When it’s time to replace your mattress, you can take advantage of the big mattress sales during the year:

• Presidents Day Mattress Sales
• Memorial Day Mattress Sales
• 4th of July Mattress Sales
• Labor Day Mattress Sales
• Columbus Day Mattress Sales
• Black Friday Mattress Sales
• Cyber Monday Mattress Sales

FAQs

Does my box spring need rotating?

Box springs wear the same way as mattresses, so they need rotating every 6 months to even out wear and tear. To make life easier, rotate your box spring at the same time as your mattress.

How often should I clean my mattress?

We suggest vacuuming, spot cleaning, and deodorizing your bed once a month to keep it dust, stain, and allergen-free.

Where can I find the most durable mattress?

Memory foam mattresses normally last between 8 and 10 years, depending on how well they’re maintained. Some natural latex beds can last up to 15 years. Look at the mattress’s warranty to understand how long the model should last. If a warranty offers 10 years of coverage, then the bed should last for 10 years.

Conclusion

Whether you need to rotate or flip your mattress, both are simple ways to extend your bed’s lifespan. You should perform this task once every 3 months to enhance your sleep experience. Remember: do not flip your mattress unless it’s marketed as “flippable” or dual-sided. Most mattresses can be rotated, but not all can be flipped.