This Startup Wants To Help You Find The Perfect Mattress

A mattress is a big investment. Not only is it expensive, it's also extremely unwieldy (especially if you can't get it delivered). And when you pick one out in-store, it's so difficult to know, is this the mattress for me? What will my back think two months from now? A company called Helix Sleep aims to solve that dilemma (and all your mattress-shopping problems) by offering mattresses that are personalized to your specific body and needs. Plus, Helix Sleep delivers to your door. "We started working on Helix Sleep because we each had uniquely terrible mattress-buying experiences — either we paid too much, we bought an uncomfortable bed, or we had a frustrating shopping experience," co-founder Kristian von Rickenbach told Refinery29 via email. "As we dug into our research, we realized that people had very different needs in their mattresses, but finding the right product was confusing." Helix Sleep thus makes the art of finding the right mattress more of a science. It inputs data you provide into the company's mattress-matching algorithm, so there's no guesswork involved in the shopping process. First, you take a quiz outlining your regular sleep routine, body structure, and mattress preferences. Helix Sleep then uses that information to begin customizing a mattress you'd like, based on four metrics: support, feel, temperature regulation, and point elasticity. Right now, there are roughly a dozen Helix Sleep mattress models available, which the founders estimate will suit more than 95% of the population. Your mattress is then built, delivered within a week, and returnable within a 100-day window. The U.S.-made mattresses start at a very reasonable $600 and are delivered shrink-wrapped inside a box, so they're easier to navigate up labyrinthine staircases and inside your home. If you and your partner have different sleep preferences, like a Sleep Number bed, you can each customize your side to your needs. Helix Sleep isn't the first — or only — new company to try to zone in on your ideal sleeping situation. Casper makes a one-size-fits-all memory-foam mattress that it delivers compactly to your doorstep. And options such as Leesa and Saatva use premium materials to build mattresses that are much more desirable than those at your local mattress emporium. Helix Sleep is one of the first to offer a sleep solution quite this personalized, though. If your hand-me-down mattress is suddenly feeling really tired right now, you can check out Helix Sleep for yourself here.