Before my first Saatva, I slept on an inexpensive memory foam mattress from IKEA. After four years my back started aching all the time, and that’s when I started researching hybrid mattresses.

In 2016 I bought a full-size Saatva Classic, Saatva’s innerspring. We rotated it whenever I remembered, maybe every six months or so, and I never noticed a dip. It was still extremely comfortable to sleep on close to ten years later.

We only let it go because my wife was pregnant and the full was getting too tight. It went on Facebook Marketplace with the bed frame, and we moved up to a queen Memory Foam Hybrid on Saatva’s adjustable base. My Saatva review covers our first year on it.

So how’s yours holding up? Pick the question below that sounds like you. The numbers behind the table are at the bottom.

Not sure yours is done?

Go by how you’re sleeping first. The signs to watch for:

• A dip, lumps or a body-shaped dent that’s still there after you get up
• Waking up stiff or sore
• Sleeping better at a hotel or a friend’s place
• New squeaking from an innerspring, or foam that’s stopped springing back
• Allergies or asthma that are worse than usual

Age makes most of the lists too, but it’s the weakest sign. Even Sleep Foundation calls its six to eight years a guideline.

So if you still wake up rested on a seven-year-old mattress, there’s no rush to replace it.

Sagging, and it’s not that old?

Then the warranty comes before any shopping. If ours started to sag tomorrow, I’d file a claim.

Every warranty I read covers a sag, but only once the dip passes a set depth, from 0.75 inch to 1.5 inches depending on the brand.

Look under it, too, and check the box spring or foundation for broken planks before you blame the mattress. And if it only feels right with a board slid under it, it’s time for a new one.

Feels fine, just getting old?

Then it just needs a little looking after. Check it for comfort and support twice a year, maybe on the weekends the clocks change. That’s about as often as we turned our Classic.

Turning it head to foot, keeping a protector on it and cleaning it all help a mattress last. Flip it only if the company that made it says you can.

With a baby in the house, we use an AllerEase protector we bought at Target.

Buying a new one now?

Get the same bed we sleep on, Saatva’s Memory Foam Hybrid. Its comfort coils are each wrapped on their own, which is meant to keep your partner’s tossing from carrying over to your side. On ours, it’s just the perfect amount of firmness for me, where I don’t sink in.

We’re not quite a year in, so for the long haul I can only speak for our old Classic.

It went close to ten years, even though the Classic is an innerspring, the type Sleep Foundation rates shortest-lived. Saatva gives a basic innerspring seven to eight years, and ours outlasted that.

Saatva’s warranty on the Memory Foam Hybrid lasts as long as you own it. It doesn’t pass to the next owner, so if yours ends up on Marketplace someday like our Classic did, the buyer won’t get it.

Replacing the frame too? That’s what the two Thuma pages are for.

Who says seven years, and who says ten?

The independent sources say six to eight years, and the mattress brands mostly say seven to ten.

The Better Sleep Council is a mattress trade group, so even its seven comes from the industry. And it’s no surprise that the brands with mattresses to sell give the longest numbers.

What wears a mattress out?

Mostly what’s inside it, and who sleeps on it. Latex and high-density foam hold up longer, and low-density foam wears out faster.

Heavier sleepers may see it sag sooner, and side sleepers tend to wear dips at the hips and shoulders. A queen or king also needs a strong center support underneath.

Consumer Reports puts every mattress it tests through eight to ten years of simulated wear, so one that comes through well is a good bet to hold up in your bedroom, too.

Price tells you less than you’d think. A pricier build does tend to last longer, but a big price tag is no guarantee.

Does a long warranty mean a long-lasting mattress?

No. A warranty only says when the company will fix or replace one that sags. How long it lasts is a separate question.

Saatva covers its mattresses for life but expects the Classic to last ten to fifteen years. Casper expects its own to go seven to ten years, so its ten-year warranty can outlast the mattress.

Purple’s blog says even an inch of sag can affect your back, and Casper’s puts it at an inch or two. Yet four of the seven warranties below only cover a dip deeper than 1.5 inches. On one of those, a mattress can feel done to you before it’s sagged enough to claim.

All seven brands also tie sag coverage to what’s underneath, so the wrong foundation, or slats spaced too far apart, can cost you the claim.

Can an old mattress cause back pain?

Nobody’s shown that it does, at least in the research I read. In the study Sleep Foundation points to, people who traded their old beds (nine and a half years old, on average) for new ones hurt less and slept better.

But every person in that study switched beds, so there was no one to compare against. The Better Sleep Council paid for it, too.

The stronger research looks at firmness instead. A proper controlled trial found that people with long-term low back pain did better on a medium-firm mattress than a firm one. A big review of the research came down on medium-firm too.

So if your back hurts and you’re shopping anyway, medium-firm is where the research points. And if one night in a different bed leaves you feeling better, that’s a good hint it’s your mattress.

I sold contract-grade furniture from 2016. More about who runs it.