When shopping for a mattress topper, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re looking for. From materials, and firmness to size, there are many different options out there. One question you may be asking is how thick a topper should be. This depends on your personal preference, though here are some general guidelines to help you find your perfect match.

Is your mattress not quite hitting the sweet spot? Perhaps it lacks support, breathability or body-hugging comfort. A mattress topper could be the perfect bedtime solution and alternative to replacement. Though with us all wanting different things when it comes to a comfy night’s sleep, it is important to know what you are looking for. From the types available to the various benefits they offer, here’s how to find the best topper for your mattress.

What are mattress toppers?

Mattress toppers are a single layer of foam or other material that can be added to your mattress, providing additional comfort and support. They are often used by those whose mattress is getting older or not providing the great night’s sleep they were hoping for. Mattresses vary in quality and benefits and a topper is a great way to ‘top up’ anything they are lacking. If your mattress needs a pick-me-up, a topper could be a comfy way to go.

What types of mattress topper are available?

Mattress toppers tend to come in four main types; memory foam, feather and down, microfiber, and latex. Each provides a different feel and level of support, depending on what you are looking for. Memory foam, for example, can offer stronger support with a firmer surface, while down can add more cushioning. However, memory foam can cause overheating, so when choosing this type of topper, it is essential to choose one that offers additional cooling technology to combat the heat. Like the Hyrdo-Foam we use in our Bamboo Memory Foam Topper.

Microfibre mattress toppers can lack breathability, while latex toppers can be a bit pricey and a little too firm depending on your sleeping preferences. Speaking of which, knowing these can help steer you in the right direction to choose the best topper.

What factors should you consider when choosing a topper?

To get the best night’s sleep and fall in love with bedtime, get clear on the following before choosing your topper:

What is your sleeping position?

Whether you are a front, back, or side sleeper can affect what topper would be best for you. Side sleepers might want to consider a memory foam mattress as this moulds to your body, providing optimum support if you toss, turn, and flip sides throughout the night.

Softer surfaces can be better for front sleepers, while back sleepers benefit from medium-firm surfaces. This prevents the body from dipping too deep into the mattress.

What are the benefits of a mattress topper?

Adding a topper to your mattress can help put the joy back in bedtime. Here are some of the dreamy benefits they can provide;

Thermoregulation – With mattress toppers like our Bamboo Memory Foam Topper providing additional technology to regulate body temperature, they can be a great way to keep bedtime fresh and breathable. Again, not all mattress toppers are breathable such as down and latex in particular. You want to make sure your topper is made of natural fabrics and is designed to combat overheating.

Inexpensive upgrade – Switching mattresses can be a great move to improve your sleep, though if you have not had your mattress for long or are on a budget, it might not be the way to go. A topper is an easy way to provide all the comfort and support you are craving without the price tag. The question is, which one is best for you?

What is the best mattress topper and why?

Choosing the best mattress topper really depends on what you feel your current mattress is lacking. A memory foam topper made with a breathable fabric could tick all the boxes. Memory foam naturally contours to every sleeping position while natural materials like bamboo and cooling technology combat overheating keeping you cool, fresh and comfortable all year round. To ensure the best fit, make sure you go with a brand with top reviews and that offers a free home trial. This will have you well on the way to top bedtimes without losing a wink of sleep.

Sweet Dreams

Are you looking for ways to enjoy a more comfortable, supportive night’s kip? Before changing your mattress, there is a budget and planet-friendly alternative that can help improve sleep quality and make bedtime bliss. Mattress toppers are one of the most popular ways to reduce neck and back pain and add a layer of comfort to an old or inefficient mattress. 

What are the benefits of a mattress topper?

A mattress topper can provide various benefits, such as enhancing the comfort and support of a bed, prolonging the life of a mattress, providing additional cushioning for pressure points, reducing motion transfer, and improving the overall sleep quality by regulating body temperature and minimizing disturbances. Additionally, a mattress topper can be a cost-effective solution to upgrade the comfort of an existing mattress without the need to replace the entire mattress. Let’s explore a few of the many benefits they can provide:

Orthopaedic grade support

Proper support is the number one many sleepers look for in any mattress upgrade. Sleeping on surfaces that do not keep you in proper alignment and support your sleeping position can lead to back pain and bad posture and make those morning workouts impossible. A good quality mattress topper will provide orthopaedic support so you can rest assured you will wake up feeling rested and pain-free.

Budget-friendly comfort

Mattress a little tired or not quite doing its job properly? Replacing a mattress can be expensive and something you only want to do when you really have to. A mattress topper is a budget-friendly solution to add a layer of luxurious comfort and improve your sleep until you’re ready for that upgrade. They can vary in price, though you should be able to find a quality topper in the region of £100-£200 depending on your bed size.

Thermoregulation

Tossing and turning at night is never fun; summer months and life changes such as menopause can make overheating a real issue and make sleep impossible. A mattress topper, like the Panda bamboo mattress topper, can provide thermoregulation with advanced gel and heat technology that can stop you from getting hot under the covers. Mattress toppers vary in materials, fills, and styles. Choosing the right one for you is important, which we will cover shortly.

Pressure point relief

If you are one of the 15-20% of adults that experience back pain, bedtime can often be a culprit. Not having sufficient support for your pressure points can, overtime, lead to discomfort that can affect your day and zap the fun out of things you love doing, like walking, running, and those peloton workouts. A mattress topper can provide comfortable relief to your pressure points, keeping you in proper alignment. This helps ease you into better sleep and will brighten up your mornings.

Sustainable bedtimes

Replacing a mattress too soon or choosing unsustainable mattress toppers can play a big part in increasing landfill. This is having a devastating influence on climate change. Choosing an eco-friendly mattress topper like the Panda bamboo topper goes a long way to reducing your carbon footprint and taking care of our planet. Quite often it’s the small lifestyle changes we make together that can make the biggest difference. Looking for sustainable materials like bamboo as alternatives for many of our favourite products not only provides an abundance of health benefits, it is a great way to protect the resources of the world and keep the environment clean and beautiful.

What are the different types of mattress toppers?

Just like us, mattress toppers come in all different styles and sizes. Before you choose, have a good idea of what would make your sleep more comfortable. The four main types of toppers are:

If you are considering a mattress topper, you likely still have a few questions to help you make up your mind. Here are some of what many sleepers ask us before making the upgrade:

Rather talk to a real person? Our customer support team know their toppers, they are available seven days a week and would love to hear from you. You can speak to them via online chat or find their contact details here.

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What Is The Difference?

With sleep being pivotal to well-being, choosing a mattress is a big decision. Understanding the difference between memory foam mattresses and hybrid mattresses will help you make the best choice for bedtime so you stay supported and rest comfortably.

Searching for the best mattress?

Finding your ideal mattress takes time and perseverance, though knowing your stuff is a great place to start. There is no greater feeling than diving onto your perfect match, whether that’s a memory foam or a hybrid mattress. Many sleepers searching for the perfect night’s sleep want to know the difference between these two popular mattresses. Let’s take a look.

What is a memory foam mattress?

Memory foam mattresses can sometimes be more on the firm side which doesn’t suit sleepers who prefer a little cushioning. They also come in a wide variety of fabrics and styles which can determine their comfort and support. While not for everyone they can provide a supportive night’s sleep and promote healthy alignment.

What is the best mattress for you?

To decide whether a memory foam or hybrid mattress is best for you it’s best to ask yourself a few questions. 

1. What is your sleeping position?

A good mattress will support your sleeping position. Both of these can provide you with healthy support and spinal alignment. However, a hybrid mattress can provide additional cushioning and advanced breathability to improve sleep.

2. How firm do you like your mattress?

A hybrid mattress could be the best option if you like a firm, though not too firm mattress. The unique combination of foams and springs provides healthy support with a slightly more cushiony feel.

3. Does motion transfer bother you?

If you tend to wake in the night from your partner’s movements, a hybrid mattress will be your new best friend. The motion control technology will set you up for smooth, undisturbed nights and much fresher mornings.

Ready for bed?

If you feel like you are ready to take the dive and upgrade bedtime, Panda’s Hybrid Bamboo Mattress comes with a free UK delivery recycling and collection service and a 100-Night trial to get to know each other.

P.S. Though by night 99 don’t be surprised if you never want to sleep without it.

Sweet Dreams

We all love a bit of shut-eye. Night owls, early birds, slackers, or workaholics, we all need rest to function properly. Sometimes, relaxing and getting decent sleep is difficult, so we wake up cranky and unproductive. If we’re not careful, this can lead to further poor habits that can affect everything from how organized we are to how we perform tasks.

Having trouble catching up with your Z’s? To help, we’ve assembled some useful tips to get a good night’s sleep – every night and wake up ready to take on new challenges.

People are creatures of habit. Consciously or not, we brush our teeth or make our bed pretty much the same way every day. This is a good thing – it allows us to go on autopilot and have our brain focus on other things. We depend on our habits; it’s beneficial if they’re useful ones.

Have you ever noticed how you set your alarm at the same time every day and wake up before it? That’s your body responding to a routine. It can be difficult, but we recommend you try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Avoid naps during the day. As sweet as they can be, they confuse your body clock, especially if you don’t take them simultaneously every day. If you follow the same schedule daily, even on weekends, you’ll find that you won’t need to rely on that alarm anymore.

You know that feeling when you need to lie down after a big meal? Eating a lot to fall asleep quickly might seem like a good idea, but we should avoid this. Digesting different foods can increase internal stress for our organs, affecting our sleep. The same is true for alcohol. And, as we all know, coffee should be avoided late in the day if we don’t want to spend the night staring at the ceiling.

Remember how our bodies love schedules? Well, it’s the same with eating and drinking routines. Aim to have your last meal at least one hour before bed. We should avoid food rich in sugar and fat and aim for a balanced dinner. This helps to keep our bellies from expanding too much.

It’s difficult to fall asleep when there are distractions. By adjusting your sleeping environment just right, you can doze off quickly! An obvious part of this is noise. Even if you can fall asleep while there’s noise around, the quality of your sleep is still affected because your brain reacts to external stimuli. Try to keep your bedroom quiet, or get some earplugs to block out sounds. A white noise machine could also do the trick to lull you to sleep.

Another factor to keep an eye on is light. Our bodies are attuned to natural light: when it’s there, we know we should be awake; when it’s gone, we get sleepy. Artificial light confuses us, particularly the blue light emitted from our phones and computer screens. That’s why we should aim to increase exposure to natural light during the day and limit our screen time in the evening. And if you can’t control the amount of light while you sleep, then consider a good eye mask. We’re in love with our Panda Bamboo Eye Mask, which protects us from all outside light while being soft and gentle to our eyes.

You’re certainly aware of how detrimental inappropriate temperature can be for your sleep. Something around 20ºC is what most people are satisfied with, but personal preference plays a role. There’s a neat trick here – if you take a shower shortly before bed, you can help yourself doze off. This is because your body temperature naturally falls during the night. When you let yourself cool off after a warm shower, you are mimicking this process and helping yourself drift off into dreamland. Try it, it’s a fantastic feeling!

It’s a fact, we sleep best when tired. And we get tired from having a day filled with varied tasks and activities. An important thing to focus on is physical activity. When we exercise, we contribute to the overall health and get it to fall back into its natural rhythm, including healthy sleep patterns.

We shouldn’t exert ourselves too much right before bed, though. This time is best saved for unwinding. Relaxing activities, like listening to music, reading a book, or meditating work wonders to clear our minds. Our bodies interpret this as resting time and lead us spontaneously into sleep.

Do you find getting a good night’s sleep hard, even with a healthy lifestyle? The answer might be in the very base of your sleep, your bed. An unsupportive mattress, a flattened-out pillow, and bedding that makes you feel too hot all contribute to your restless night and wake you up aching in the morning.

Our beds should make it easy for us to maintain natural alignment along our backs. Whichever sleeping position one prefers, it’s essential that we don’t exhaust our neck and spine during the night, as this only leads to stiffness and pain during the day. We all strive for a soft bed, but some pushback is necessary. That’s why we should aim for mattresses and pillows that combine comfort and support.

Our Memory Foam Panda Pillows and Toppers were carefully developed to provide the healthiest sleeping environment you could wish for, all with the luxurious feel of bamboo fibre. Don’t take our word for it, though; do your research and start your 30-night trial!

We hope these tips have made you realise how much you could improve your sleep with just a few small adjustments. Sleep is often sacrificed and disregarded, even though it plays one of the most important roles in maintaining your overall health.

Sweet Dreams!

Tend to wake up with a sore neck? You’re definitely not alone. An increasing number of people complain that their sleep is affecting the way they feel during the day. Your sleeping habits and the lack of proper support during the night play a big role in this.

If your days are consistently ruined by nagging pain, a very likely cause is the pillow you sleep on. Many of us consider pillows to be a purchase you don’t put much thought into. However, depending on your sleeping position, your pillow can have a huge impact on the quality of your sleep. Choosing the right pillow to support your neck and shoulders can help you wake up ready to take on the day’s challenges.

First things first – take a look at how you sleep at night. Do you tend to lie flat on your back or are you a side sleeper? Choosing the right pillow (and mattress, for that matter) depends on the amount of support your neck is currently getting.

Learn More:

If you have a little one yourself, you of all people will know that sometimes getting them off to sleep can be an exhausting ordeal. That’s why we have put together this list of tips, that have been tried and tested. We hope this will allow you and your child to get the best night’s sleep possible.

Sleep is important for everyone! It is key for the brain to stay healthy, especially during early development.

The sleep-wake cycle is regulated by light and dark, and these rhythms take time to develop, resulting in the irregular sleep schedules of newborns. These begin to develop at about six weeks, and by three to six months, most infants have a regular sleep-wake cycle. Did you know that, on average, a child will spend 40 percent of his or her childhood asleep?! Click here to learn more about the different stages of sleep.
A healthy sleeping routine can have a wide range of positive effects on the body. Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development.

At the beginning of the year everyone is attempting to quit their old Habits, bellowing out “New Year, New Me” over social media. After doing some research we found that only 4% of people actually stick with their new year’s resolution throughout the entire year and 80% of them give up by March!*

Therefore we thought we would put together a short list of useful tips to help you lead a healthier life. Believe it or not, making small changes to your day-to-day routine can have a massive impact on both your physical and mental wellbeing. Before diving into your resolutions, we wanted to give you a few simple tips to keep you motivated throughout the year.

1. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself and give yourself unrealistic deadlines. They say to make a habit, you need to do something for at least 4-5 days in a row at roughly the same time.

2. Commit to it, make sure it is something that you really want to do. If you put your mind to it, you can achieve your goals!

3. Don’t put yourself down if you make a mistake. Instead of getting aggravated with yourself, treat it as a lesson. Understand what made you stumble to you can try to avoid doing the same in the future.

4. Reward yourself – each time you reach your milestone, treat yourself whether that’s buying yourself something new or going somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.

Once you’re able to complete the habit without having to think about it, it’s time to move onto establishing your next habit.

Now onto the best habits to adopt!

Drinking more water

Everyone loves to sleep, but not a lot of people know the benefits of their sleeping position and the ways they can support it. We’ve put together a list of pros and cons of the three most popular sleeping positions, along with a tip to keep you sleeping comfortably. We’re sorry to report that if you’re a vampire and sleep upside down this post will be no good for you.

We asked everyone in our office which position they sleep in, we found that the majority of us are back sleepers.

Pros:

Sleeping in the “Savasana” position (on your back) is great for your spine and neck health, as your back is straight and supported. Also, sleeping on your back allows your mattress to support your spine efficiently. Keep in mind that using too many pillows can make breathing difficult. Neurologist Dr. Decontee Jimmeh said: “Sleeping on your back also combats acid reflux”. There is also the fact that your face is not squashed against anything during the night, meaning you are reducing the chances of increasing wrinkles!

Cons:

Unfortunately, those who suffer from snoring and sleep apnea are more likely to be a back sleeper. Doctors can sometimes recommend that you sleep on your side, as back-sleeping is commonly linked to sleep apnea. Also when sleeping on your back, your tongue can be forced backwards resulting in that not-so-beautiful, deep and prolonged loud noise we all know as snoring.

Bedtime Tip:

Ok, we are feeling generous, so we are going to give you two! First up, find yourself a mattress that will provide pressure point support and will keep your neck and spine aligned. A hybrid mattress that combines a balance of ultra-responsive springs and contouring, orthopaedic grade foam is your best bet. Not ready to change your mattress? Tip number two is to prop a pillow below underneath your knees, this can help relieve pressure from your spine. Go for a firm, supportive memory foam that supports your natural curves, and you are all set for a better, quality kip.

Pros:

If you’re a side sleeper during pregnancy, it’s good to know that many doctors recommend sleeping on the left side. Sleeping on this side improves circulation to the heart, which is great for you and your baby.

For those not expecting anytime soon, like sleeping on your back, sleeping on the left side can also ease heartburn and acid reflux, making you more likely to fall asleep faster.

Cons:

One of the cons we found is that it can put some pressure on your stomach and lungs. Also, you may find that you are woken up at night with pins and needles!

Vivian Eisenstadt, a physical therapist in Los Angeles, Calif., told Medical Daily in an email, “If you’re going to sleep on your side, pillow prop using the following: an ergonomic pillow thick enough so your head doesn’t tilt down, a small pillow under your waist so your stomach doesn’t curve down, and the third pillow between your legs.”

Bedtime Tip:

Side sleeping is one of the most popular sleeping positions, though how can you make it as comfortable as possible? Popping a pillow between your legs is a great way for you side sleepers to reduce moving around throughout the night. Have a restless partner? A mattress that optimises motion control will make sure they do not disturb you! For brownie points go for one that naturally contours to your sleeping position to ensure your neck and spine are kept protected and healthy as you drift off and dream.