Why Are Mattresses One-Sided?

One-Sided Mattresses

• As recently as the 1990s, two-sided mattresses were the standard in mattress manufacturing. According to STL Beds, the one-sided mattress design was first released in 2000 by Simmons Mattress Co. It was promoted as easier to maintain than a two-sided mattress, which had to be flipped regularly to maintain its shape. One-sided mattresses were built to maintain their form without flipping, easing the burden on mattress owners.

Two-Sided Mattresses and Flipping

• The flipping of a two-sided mattress was so essential to making a mattress last that many companies made flipping the mattress every three months as a requirement to keep the warranty valid, according to STL Beds. Flipping was meant to equally distribute wear and tear on the bed and prevent indentations from forming on the mattress where a person most commonly slept. Flipping, however, was difficult for one person to accomplish alone and created its own wear and tear on the mattress.

One-Sided Vs. Two-Sided

• While mattress manufacturers maintain that the single-sided mattress performs as well and lasts as long as a two-sided mattress, not all mattress buyers agree. Since the two-sided mattress provides two sleeping surfaces and four possible arrangements of the mattress, as opposed to the single sleeping surface and only two possible arrangements for the one-sided mattress, some consumers believe that the mattresses don't hold up as long. On the other hand, the biggest benefit of the one-sided mattress for consumers is that the mattress doesn't need to be flipped to maintain the warranty.

Flipping One-Sided Mattresses

• Even though one-sided mattresses don't require flipping, they do require rotating if you want to keep indentations from forming in the mattress. Every few months, a one-sided mattress should be picked up and turned 180 degrees, so the top of the mattress--where a bed owner's head was--becomes the bottom. This rotation simulates the flipping process of a two-sided mattress and helps the mattress retain its form.