Choose a bed height that lets you sit on the edge with your feet flat on the floor, then stand up from it. Measure it where you actually get out, on the base you'll use.
The edge has to hold right there, because that's where you sit, scoot and push up every day. If you're helping a parent or partner, every check below applies to them, and they lead the testing.
Table of Contents
- Why the Listed Height Is the Wrong Number
- How to Measure Your Sit Height at Home
- What Makes an Edge Hold or Give
- Changing the Height Without Changing the Mattress
- Questions Families Ask Before They Shop
- Your Sit-and-Stand Test in the Store
Which way out of bed are you fitting?
| How you get out | What the height has to do | What the edge has to do | Who sets the target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stand up unaided | Let your feet rest on the floor while seated, and let you rise without several tries | Stay firm enough under you to sit on and push up from | You, by testing |
| Stand with a walker or cane | Let you back up to the bed, sit, and rise with your walker or cane placed where it stands at home | Hold when you reach back to it and lower down | You, by testing |
| Home from hip or knee surgery | MedlinePlus's hip replacement discharge guide says the bed should be low enough for the feet to touch the floor when sitting on the edge. It should also be high enough that the hips are higher than the knees | MedlinePlus's guide to getting your home ready says the mattress should be firm so you don't sink into the bed when sitting on the side | Your surgical team's instructions |
| Caregiver-assisted pivot to a wheelchair | MedlinePlus's caregiver steps start with the person at the edge of the bed, feet touching the ground. They assume the person can stand on at least one leg. Otherwise, a lift is needed | Hold steady while you sit at the edge and turn | Your physical or occupational therapist |
| Seated or slide transfer to a wheelchair | Work with your wheelchair and the method you were taught | Hold its shape under a slide or pivot | Your physical or occupational therapist |
For either wheelchair row, the target height depends on your own chair and technique. The NIA says a physical or occupational therapist can help decide which devices might be helpful and teach how to use them safely.
Bring your therapist's target height with you when you shop.
Why the Listed Height Is the Wrong Number
A mattress listing gives its height, or thickness, with nobody on it. When you sit on the side, the mattress gives, so you sit lower than the listing says. How much lower depends on the build and on you.
That's why "taller and firmer" isn't a rule. A bed can be too low or too high. And a transfer may need a different height than standing up does.
Your sit height is also more than the mattress. It's everything under you added together: frame, foundation or base, mattress and anything on top. Change any one of those and your sit height changes.
- Frame
- Foundation or base
- Mattress
- Listed height
- Sit height
How to Measure Your Sit Height at Home
- Sit where you normally get out of bed, in your usual shoes, with your walker or cane where it usually stands.
- Notice whether your feet touch the floor and whether your hips sit higher than your knees. If you're recovering from a hip replacement, MedlinePlus's discharge guide names both as goals.
- While you stay seated, have a helper measure from the floor to the top of the mattress edge at the exit spot. They should measure just in front of your thighs, where the edge dips under your weight.
- Measure that same spot again with nobody on the bed. The difference tells you how much the exit edge gives under you.
- Write both numbers down and bring them when you shop, so the store test starts from your real bed. If your surgical team or therapist gave you a target height, that target is the deciding measure, and their instructions come first.
What Makes an Edge Hold or Give
Edge support is how well the perimeter holds when you sit or lie near it. It changes with what's under and on top of that edge.
| What's under or on the edge | What it does when you sit | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| A reinforced perimeter, such as firmer foam or stiffer coils around the edge, found in many innerspring mattresses and hybrid mattresses | Built to hold the edge up when you sit on it | Ask what the edge of that specific mattress is made of, then sit on it |
| An all-foam edge | Varies by design | Ask how the edge is built, and feel whether it slopes when you sit |
| A pillow top or thick, soft comfort layers | Can make the edge feel rounded or sloped | Sit at the very edge and notice whether you start to slide |
| A soft topper | Sinks where you sit, lowering your sit height and softening the edge | Check how a topper changes the edge by measuring your sit height with and without it |
| A frame whose side rail or lip sits higher than the mattress edge | Can press behind your legs when you sit on the side | Look at bed frames where the mattress top clears the rail |
| Daily sitting in one spot | The exit spot takes your weight in the same place every day | Sit at that same spot several times during the store test |
Changing the Height Without Changing the Mattress
If the sit height is the problem, start with the base. If the edge is the problem, look at the perimeter build and take off any soft topper. Treat support as a separate decision.
Swap the base
A foundation or frame of a different height moves the total without touching the mattress. Mancini's Sleepworld lists the height of each of its foundations and low-profile foundations, so you can compare base heights with your home numbers.
Consider an adjustable base
Adjustable bases add their own height under the mattress, and some have legs or settings that change it. Not every mattress is meant for one, so check that both makers say the pair works.
Skip the topper as a fix
It sinks where you sit, so it works against the height you're trying to add.
Re-check any bed rail
The CPSC's adult portable bed rail guidance says the rail should be pressed firmly against the side of the mattress, with the retention strap properly installed. The rail should be compatible with the bed and mattress, and the guidance also describes entrapment risks. If your mattress changes thickness, check the rail against its instructions again.
Let the other sleeper keep their feel
The edge and the middle of a mattress can feel different. So you and your partner can judge the exit edge and the sleeping feel as two separate checks.
Questions Families Ask Before They Shop
Is a stronger edge worth paying more for, and will it last?
It depends on how much you rely on the edge. If you sit and push up from the same spot every morning, the edge does daily work. If you get up easily, it may matter less.
What the perimeter is built from drives the cost. That build, plus how the bed is used, decides how well it holds up. So ask what the edge is made of.
Then sit at the exit spot again and again in the store. Notice whether it holds as well on the last try as on the first.
What can we change tonight?
The NIA's room-by-room tips for bedrooms include:
- night lights and light switches close to the bed
- a flashlight kept by the bed
- a landline or well-charged phone near the bed
The NIA also advises standing up slowly. Getting up too quickly can make your blood pressure drop, which can make you feel wobbly.
Is it the bed, or something to tell the doctor?
The NIA says to always tell your doctor about any fall since your last check-up, even one without pain. A fall can point to a new medical problem, or to issues with medications or eyesight.
If getting up has suddenly become harder, that's one for the doctor too. After a fall, the NIA adds, a doctor might suggest an occupational therapist, physical therapist or nurse visit your home to assess its safety.
Your Sit-and-Stand Test in the Store
This builds on the usual way to test a mattress in the store, with height and edge checks added.
- Bring your gear and your helper. That means your usual shoes, your walker or cane, and your home measurements. At a Mancini's Sleepworld location, one of 50+ across Northern California, the mattresses are set up to sit on, so you can try the exit yourself. It's your bed, so you lead the test and make the choice. Your helper measures.
- Get a support starting point first, if you want one. The online SleepMatch quiz, or a SleepMatch body scan at a Mancini's Sleepworld SleepMatch location, can narrow the choices. The scan produces a color-coded report. If you're shopping for an older adult, see this guide to mattresses for seniors and the elderly, too. Height and edge are still separate checks after that.
- Line up different edges. Mancini's Sleepworld carries mattresses from many brands. Ask a Sleep Specialist to set up two or three with different edge builds, from different brands, on a foundation near your home height. Ask what each perimeter is made of.
- Get in and out the way you do at home. If you use MedlinePlus's after-surgery steps, use them here too. Roll onto your side, bend your knees until your legs hang over the side, and use your arms to lift up to sit on the edge.
- Sit, scoot, pause, stand. Scoot to the very edge and pause. Then stand, slowly, as the NIA advises. Repeat it several times at the spot you'll use at home. While you're seated, have your helper measure the loaded height at the exit spot the same way, and compare it with your numbers.
- With a walker, sit down the way MedlinePlus's walker guide describes. Back up until the bed touches the back of your legs, then reach back to the bed with one hand.
- For a transfer, rehearse it the way your therapist taught it. Check each option against your therapist's target height.
- Keep only the options you got up from steadily on every try. Choose the feel from those.
Your next step: measure your sit height at home tonight, then bring those numbers to a Mancini's Sleepworld location for this test.