Disclaimer: After extensive research on the best mattresses for side sleepers and reading numerous mattress-in-a-box reviews, my husband and I decided we wanted to try CRaVE mattress. We did contact the company and asked if we could receive a free mattress, foundation and bedframe in exchange for our honest review of their mattress. They agreed and sent us this mattress. This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are our own.

How to Sleep Better

Sleep is such a critical part to healthy living. Sleep helps heal your heart and blood vessels. Sleep repairs your muscles (that’s why professional athletes sleep so much). And sleep decreases your risk of disease, diabetes and stroke. The benefits of getting consistent, high quality sleep have been proven over and over again and researchers are still finding more reasons why getting those 8 hours a night is critical!

It’s not enough though to get to bed early and to shut off devices 30 minutes before sleep. Once you crawl into that bed you need to make sure your REM cycle isn’t going to be disturbed (even if you don’t know that is is). I occasionally wear my Fitbit to bed in order to see how often my body ‘wakes up’ even though I might not know it. There are several reasons our bodies might wake up:

-Your partner in bed moves and you feel it on the other side.
-You get too hot so your body wants to move to get to a colder spot.
-Your mattress is too hard which puts pain on joints and pressure points.
-Vivid dreams, sleep talking or sleep walking.
-Sleep disorder (like sleep apnea).

I had a problem with the first two, which means it was time for a new mattress! We had our old mattress for eight years (typical life span of a mattress) and over time the middle became sunken down.

Since we were moving to a new house that has a tiny stairwell to the floor with our room we wanted to get the mattress shipped to our home in a box to make it easier to get to our bedroom. It was so convenient and we didn’t waste anytime getting pressured by salespeople at big box stores.

Why We Chose CRaVE’s Ultra Plush Mattress?

Since my husband and I are both side sleepers, we wanted a mattress that was soft enough to contour to our bodies without sagging into the mattress and making us too hot. We also knew the importance of an innerspring mattress when it comes to joint support. We also wanted memory foam which helps with keeping movement from waking your partner.

CRaVE is actually the only mattress-in-a-box company that has created a hybrid memory foam and innerspring mattress that can compress in order to ship to your home in a box.

Here are a few other reasons we believe CRaVE is the best mattress-in-a-box:

-CRaVE is certified by CertiPUR-US, which means they don’t use any harmful chemicals on the mattress. They also only use eco-friendly foams (bio-based), which means these mattresses don’t have any bad odor and are non-toxic.
-CRaVE’s ultra plush mattress has a firm edge. Most beds-in-a-box have sagging sides meaning you basically fall off if you get too close to the edge of your mattress but CRaVE’s is firm and can support someone who likes to sleep on the very edge.
-CRaVE’s mattress can withhold more weight.
-The bedframe, foundation and mattress are very simple to set up.

Even though these were the reasons we justified choosing CRaVE mattress, I didn’t expect to sleep so good on the mattress right away. We’ve only had the mattress for a month and my sleep has definitely improved (according to both my Fitbit and just how good I feel when waking up)!

My husband and I couldn’t believe how perfectly comfortable the mattress is for us. The layer of zoned latex at the top of the mattress keeps you cool all night! And the individually wrapped coils in the innerspring allows for each of us to turn or get in and out of bed without waking up the other person.

Watch my full CRaVE mattress review here:

Similar to other bed-in-a-box companies, CRaVE offers 100-night trial with no hassle returns. So it never hurts to give it a try because if you don’t like it you get your money refunded and they take care of removing the mattress from your home.

How to Setup the CRaVE Mattress, Foundation and Bedframe

I was able to set up the CRaVE foundation, bedframe and mattress-in-a-box in about 15 minutes. I did need some help with the mattress as it is quite heavy to pull out of the box onto the foundation. I was particularly impressed with how quick the mattress inflated and the simplicity of the foundation (it’s so pretty, too!)

There really is nothing negative I could say about the CRaVE mattress; however, I will mention the foundation’s top (the planks wrapped in fabric that go over the top) did have a few staples on the end that must have gone through the wood but never folded over. It barely poked out and it might just be a fluke with ours but just be careful when putting on the top.

Learn how to set up your CRaVE bed-in-a-box here:

CRaVE offers some of the most affordable mattresses-in-a-box with their least expensive starting at $350 for a twin! We sleep on their queen ultra plush mattress, which is priced at $890. Their queen foundation is priced at $210 and their bedframe at $100. Shipping is free.

I highly recommend the CRaVE ultra plush mattress to anyone who likes a softer bed while still having excellent joint support. This type of bed is ideal for side sleepers. However, CRaVE does offer different kinds of mattresses for different sleep positions (ultra plush is their softest).