I have nothing but love for the all-foam Leesa Original Mattress I have in my New York apartment. But then the holiday season rolled around and I remembered that visiting my parents’ house in South Carolina also meant sleeping in my childhood bed—a twin-size, innerspring-stuffed, ache-inducing mattress that I’d slept on since I was nine (making it a ripe ol’ 24 years old, which far exceeds the National Sleep Foundation’s recommended six-to-eight-year lifespan of the average mattress). When Casper offered to gift me its newest mattress, the Element Pro (as well as its basic Upholstered Bed Frame), I didn’t need convincing. I had it sent straight to my family’s home so that I could review it for SELF—and, my God, am I glad that I agreed.
Read on for sleep-expert-informed insight into how I tested the Casper Element Pro mattress and my thoughts on its comfort, supportiveness, temperature, delivery process, and more.
How I Tested
I slept on the Casper mattress for roughly three weeks while I was home visiting my parents. To critique it, I followed SELF’s mattress buying guide, which lays out sleep-expert-informed criteria for testing beds.
Though Casper offers free shipping and returns on its mattresses, I opted for the company’s white-glove delivery service, as my bedroom is on the second floor, and my parents and I wouldn’t be able to carry it up. Casper covered the cost of its in-home delivery service for me, but it’s regularly an additional $199, which covers the setup of the mattress as well as the removal and recycling of your used mattress and box spring or foundation (as well as any extra packaging).
Our delivery person had no problem transporting the 69-pound, tightly-rolled mattress up the stairs of both the house and up to my room, and in an hour built the new frame and removed the old twin bed (finally). It was an overall seamless experience, and I’d highly recommend it for anyone who doesn’t want to deal with removing their old bed or anyone who’s unable to lug a heavy box into their space.
The most important consideration when choosing the right mattress for you is how you feel after sleeping on it, according to our buying guide. I’m a side sleeper prone to tossing and turning and was pleasantly surprised at how much less I moved around at night on the Element Pro. Most mornings, I woke feeling rested and in a similar position to how I fell asleep (and not on the other side of the bed).
Most mattresses are made up of a comfort system (which is designed to cushion sharp pressure points like your hips and shoulders) layered over a support core (usually layers of foam, latex, coils, or air or water pockets that stabilize, support the spine, cut back on motion transfer, and even increase airflow).
The supportiveness of a mattress actually has nothing to do with its firmness, Michael J. Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist and American Board of Sleep Medicine diplomate, previously told SELF. Firmness is usually a result of the comfort layer, while support is linked to the bed’s core and indicates how the surface of your mattress pushes back against your body, bringing your spine into alignment and letting your muscles relax while you snooze.