Make your new mattress last

Your new mattress should serve you well for years—if you take good care of it.

• Don't let your kids use your bed as a trampoline.
  
  
• Rotate your mattress. If you have a single-sided mattress (you sleep on only one side of it), rotate the mattress from end to end—that is, move the mattress 180 degrees. The foot of the mattress is now at the head, and vice versa.
  
  

If you have a double-sided mattress, rotate it as above, then turn it over so the bottom is now on top.

Perform these steps every two weeks for the first three months you have your new mattress, then once every two months thereafter. You'll find illustrated instructions on a number of different Web sites.