Day 1: The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge

Short and sweet: After setting up the Casper mattress yesterday, I of course slept on it.  Note, it's just me, there isn't a "couple debate" about the firmness or anything.  The feedback is 100% mine.

Bodies take a while to adjust to a new mattress.  It is this break-in period that makes people frustrated, because you can't account for it in a mattress store.  It's the reason I'm going to share feedback over a number of days, because the experience will most certainly be different day-to-day as my body adjusts.

I noticed two things immediately with the Casper mattress.  First, it kept its shape extremely well.  Second, it never sunk in beyond a certain point even when just directly sitting on it.  As a muscular 180-pound guy, this tells me that the mattress can definitely handle at least an "average" sized guy and lower.

My usual routine is to read and/or play mobile games until I get sleepy.  I'll often start at around 8pm and be sleepy by 10pm-ish, sometimes longer.  I didn't last that long with the Casper.  I was definitely out before 10pm.  My body was also its usual hotness, but despite being under a sheet and a comforter, it wasn't ever uncomfortable underneath me.  The mattress started cool like a gel pad, then warmed just enough to match my body temperature.  It never got softer.

I can only describe the experience as similar laying on a mattress pad at summer camp that has a topper on it (obviously, camp beds do not have toppers, I'm just saying).  It's firm, but not uncomfortably firm.  Although people who don't like firm mattresses may be up in arms at that statement, the mattress just did not cause any pain points with its level of firmness because it did give at the sharp points (hips, elbows, shoulders, etc) but stood fast at the dull points (side, abs, thighs, etc).  You have the distinct feeling of lying on top of something flat, in other words, but whatever that something is, isn't pressing against your body like a table might.

I have a tendency to shift position over night mostly because of the old mattresses and I did so also with the Casper, but it was more out of habit than discomfort.  I think my body was just expecting softness and didn't get it.  That's okay, because unlike with the older mattresses, I did reach REM sleep on at least three occasions, and even though I woke up during the night (around 2:30am) like I usually do, it was not difficult to go back to sleep.  I think I was woken up because of noise outside the window (my house is on an arterial, and the windows only cut noise down about 50%.  That's changing in the near future), not the mattress.

This morning, I wasn't groggy when I got up.  I wasn't as sharp as I might have been as a kid, but that could just be age.  What's important is that I didn't have any lower back pain (which was common with the older mattresses), or neck pain, and I felt truly awake and rested.  Had I not woken up in the middle of the night I might have felt even better, and hopefully that day will come.  The mattress, of course, looks like I haven't even slept in it.  Not a single dent, despite my shifting, sitting and turning over 12 hours.

It's safe to say that if you are a back sleeper this mattress will probably feel ultra comfortable.  Side sleepers may have a longer adjustment period simply because your body has gotten used to "sinking in" where it won't with this mattress.  Stomach sleepers (I still don't understand how this is even possible, but yeah) SHOULD be able to sleep soundly on this mattress with the right pillow.  I think the problem with stomach sleepers is that your head and back get arched too much if you use a pillow that's too thick or too firm; you really should go without a pillow or get a down pillow so that your spine remains in alignment.

Tune in tomorrow for the next sleep experience.

The 30-Day @Casper Mattress Challenge: Order Process

Image screenshot credit: http://www.casper.com

Casper, a young New York company, set out in 2014 to attempt to do for mattress shopping what Steve Jobs tried to do in 2007: reinvent the product.  Think of things from a different angle.  Change the market.  After raising venture capital, they launched a mattress brand by the same name.  As I was already on the hunt for the "perfect sleep experience", I figured I would give them a try.  I'll use Blogger (assuming Google doesn't delete my blog because I have a photo of a mattress, which is normally used in porn - long story), and I will track the experience over time.