Why Your Mattress Might Be The Missing Piece In Your Health Routine
When most people decide it’s time to “get healthy”, they usually start in the same two pillars: food and fitness. They clean up their meals, join a gym, book in for Pilates or strength training, maybe even add a few supplements and a cold plunge for good measure.
But there’s a quiet third of your life that often gets completely overlooked and it has more impact on your hormones, cravings, mood, performance and long‑term health than almost anything else you do.
Sleep.
Not just the number of hours you’re in bed, but the quality of those hours. How deeply you sleep. How often you wake. Whether your body feels safe enough to truly switch off and repair. And that’s where something as unglamorous as your mattress suddenly becomes a very big deal.
We tend to think of a mattress as a “comfort” purchase, something you’ll get around to upgrading when you have time. In reality, it’s a health decision. The surface you spend a third of your life on can either support your body to heal, regulate and restore… or quietly chip away at your energy and resilience, night after night.
What Your Body Is Really Doing While You Sleep
Sleep isn’t a passive state where nothing happens. It’s an incredibly active process where your body and brain get on with all the jobs they can’t do while you’re answering emails, training, parenting or rushing between meetings.
Across the night, you move through different stages of sleep. In lighter stages, your body starts to relax and your heart rate slows. In deep, slow‑wave sleep, your tissues repair, your immune system strengthens and your body releases growth hormone to help you recover from the day. In REM sleep, your brain processes memories and emotions, helping you wake up clearer and more emotionally balanced.
When this process is consistently cut short or disrupted, you feel it everywhere. Hormones that regulate hunger and fullness are thrown off, making you crave more sugar and quick energy. Cortisol, your stress hormone, tends to stay higher. Insulin sensitivity drops, which can make weight loss harder and energy swings more dramatic. Your training feels heavier, your recovery slower, your patience shorter.
This is why I always say: before we add another workout or tighten up your nutrition plan, we look at your sleep. It’s the pillar that quietly holds everything else up.
The Subtle Ways Poor Sleep Shows Up
You don’t need a lab test to know when you’ve slept badly. You wake up feeling foggy, your body feels heavier than it should, and your usual motivation to “be good” with food and movement just isn’t there. One poor night is manageable. A string of them starts to change how you feel about yourself and your day.
On the surface, it might look like “low willpower” or “lack of discipline”. In reality, your brain is simply trying to cope with a lack of deep rest. The rational part of your brain that helps you make good decisions is dulled; your emotional alarm system is louder. You’re more reactive, less resilient, and far more likely to reach for quick fixes – caffeine, sugar, scrolling – just to get through.
For high‑performing clients, parents, founders and executives, this has a huge ripple effect. Sleep becomes one of the most powerful performance tools you have: better sleep, better decisions, better leadership, better relationships.
But here’s the part that’s often missed: your sleep quality isn’t just about what you do in the hour before bed. It’s also about what you’re lying on all night.
Why Your Mattress Matters More Than You Think
Deep, restorative sleep happens when your nervous system feels safe. Your body needs to feel physically supported, at ease, and at a comfortable temperature. If your mattress is too hard, too soft, uneven, sagging or simply not suited to your body and sleep style, your brain receives a constant stream of tiny “something’s not right” signals from your joints and muscles.
You might not fully wake up, but your sleep becomes lighter and more fragmented. You toss and turn to relieve pressure points. You overheat and kick off the covers, then get cold and pull them back on. You wake up technically having “been in bed” for seven or eight hours, but feeling like you’ve had four or five.
A mattress that doesn’t support your spine properly is a common culprit. If it’s too soft, your hips and shoulders sink too far and your spine curves into a banana shape. Too firm, and those same areas can’t sink enough, forcing your spine into an unnatural position and creating pressure in your lower back, neck and shoulders. Over time, you might notice you wake up stiff, with aches that ease as the day goes on, or a dull headache that seems to appear out of nowhere.
Then there’s circulation. When your weight isn’t evenly distributed, certain areas – hips, shoulders, knees – take the brunt. Your body responds by making you move. You roll, fidget, change position, often without remembering it in the morning. Each movement pulls you out of deeper sleep, even if just for a moment.
Temperature is another big one. Your core body temperature naturally drops at night to help you fall asleep. If your mattress traps heat and doesn’t breathe, you’re far more likely to overheat, wake up sweaty, kick off the duvet, cool down too much, and repeat the cycle. Many people blame hormones or “just being a hot sleeper”, when in reality their mattress materials are working against their body’s natural rhythm.
And if you share a bed, motion transfer becomes part of the picture too. On some mattresses, every time your partner moves, you feel it. One restless sleeper can effectively disrupt two people’s nights.
None of these things sound dramatic on their own. But added together, over months and years, they can be the difference between a body that feels constantly tired, puffy and inflamed… and a body that wakes up clear‑headed, strong and ready to train.
The Health Case For A Better Mattress
When you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, a good mattress stops being a “nice‑to‑have” and starts looking like a very sensible health investment.
Think about it: a quality mattress will usually last you around eight to ten years. You’ll spend thousands of hours on it. The quality of that time directly influences your hormone balance, your weight, your training results, your mood, your immune system and your long‑term health.
Most of us don’t think twice about spending money on coffee, takeaways, activewear, supplements or tech. Yet we hesitate over improving the one place our body does its deepest healing work. When you divide the cost of a premium mattress by the number of nights you’ll sleep on it, you’re often looking at pennies per night for better energy, less pain and a calmer nervous system.
For my own clients, especially those in demanding careers or seasons of life, I put a supportive mattress in the same category as a great coach, a well‑designed training program or high‑quality nutrition support. It’s part of the foundation that makes everything else work. Which is why I love the Emma Sleep range of mattresses.
Is Your Mattress Holding You Back?
If you’re wondering whether your current mattress might be part of the problem, a few simple questions can be revealing.
Do you often wake up with stiffness or pain that eases as the day goes on, particularly in your lower back, neck, hips or shoulders?
Do you notice that you sleep better in hotels or at friends’ houses than you do in your own bed?
Is your mattress older than eight to ten years, visibly sagging, or does it have dips where you usually lie?
Do you and your partner find yourselves rolling towards the middle of the bed?
Are you constantly tossing and turning, even when you’ve been mindful with caffeine, screens and stress?
If you’re nodding along to several of these, it’s worth taking seriously. Not from a place of panic, but from a place of recognising that your body is giving you feedback. It’s telling you that the surface you’re spending a third of your life on is no longer supporting you the way it should. Try Emma Sleep
What To Look For In A Health‑Supporting Mattress
Once you’ve decided it might be time to upgrade, the choice can feel overwhelming. Foam, springs, hybrid, firm, medium, soft, cooling, natural, organic – it’s a lot. The good news is you don’t need to become an expert in every material; you just need to know what you’re asking the mattress to do for your body.
First, you want proper support and spinal alignment. That means your spine stays in a neutral position whether you sleep on your back, side or a mix of both. Your hips and shoulders should be able to sink just enough to feel cradled, but not so far that you collapse into a hammock shape. The overall feel should be supportive rather than simply “hard”.
Next, think about pressure relief. This is especially important if you’re very active, have joint issues or tend to sleep on your side. A good mattress will distribute your weight evenly and reduce pressure on your hips, shoulders and knees, so you’re not constantly waking up to move.
Then there’s temperature. If you tend to overheat at night, look for breathable materials and designs that allow air to circulate, rather than trapping heat. Some brands use specific cooling fabrics or gel layers; others rely on natural, temperature‑regulating fibres. The key is that your mattress works with your body’s natural drop in temperature at night, not against it.
If you share a bed, motion isolation matters too. You want a mattress that absorbs movement so that when one of you turns over, the other isn’t pulled out of deep sleep. And finally, consider materials and sensitivities: if you’re prone to allergies or you care about environmental impact, look for low‑VOC certifications, hypoallergenic covers or more natural constructions.
One thing I always encourage people to pay attention to is the trial period and guarantee. It’s very hard to know if a mattress is right for you after five minutes in a showroom. The brands I feel most comfortable recommending are the ones that let you sleep on the mattress for a proper stretch of time – often several months – and make it easy to return if it’s not the right fit.
This is where the mattress brand you choose to promote can really shine, but I personally love Emma Sleep. If they prioritise spinal support, pressure relief, breathability and generous trial periods, you’re not just sending your audience to a product; you’re guiding them towards a genuinely supportive part of their health routine.
Your Mattress As Part Of A Bigger Sleep Ritual
Of course, a mattress can’t do everything on its own. It’s the foundation, but the way you use it still matters.
Think of your sleep like a little nightly ritual that supports your nervous system. Your environment comes first: a supportive mattress, comfortable pillows, a room that’s cool, dark and as quiet as possible. Then your rhythm: roughly consistent sleep and wake times where life allows, and a gentle wind‑down routine that signals to your body that the day is closing – dimmer lights, stretching, reading, perhaps a warm shower or a few minutes of breathwork.
The “inputs” you give your body also play a role: caffeine earlier in the day, lighter evening meals if heavy dinners disrupt your sleep, being mindful about screens and bright light in the hour before bed. None of this needs to be perfect; it just needs to be intentional.
When you combine these simple habits with a mattress that truly supports your body, sleep stops feeling like something you have to chase. It becomes the natural, restorative default your body returns to each night.
If you care about your health, your performance, your mood and your longevity, sleep is not an optional extra you squeeze in around everything else. It is the quiet pillar that holds everything together.
You can train intelligently, eat beautifully, invest in the best therapies and treatments – but if you’re spending a third of your life on a mattress that keeps your body in a state of low‑grade stress, you’re always going to feel like you’re pushing uphill.
Upgrading your mattress isn’t about being fussy or indulgent. It’s about giving your body the support it needs to do what it’s designed to do: repair, regulate and restore you every single night. It’s about waking up with less pain and more energy. It’s about making it easier to manage your weight, your hormones and your cravings. It’s about having more patience for your children, more focus for your work, and more capacity for the life you actually want to live.
If you’re ready to treat sleep as seriously as your training and nutrition, start with the surface you’re sleeping on. Your future self – clearer, calmer, stronger and better rested – will thank you for it.