If you’re reading this article, you’re probably in the market for a new Electric Adjustable Bed or at the very least a new electric adjustable base. Once upon a time, these amazing electric sleep systems were exclusively found in hospitals or high care facilities, however, over the past couple of decades, they can be more commonly found in homes in your own suburb, homes of younger, healthier people, who use an electric adjustable base to help with an ailment or two, or to improve their sleep health or reduce daily pain and aches that can build over time and take longer and longer to recover from, especially if your sleeping less than 8 hours each night.

In this article, we are going to take a closer look at a small but very important feature of an electric adjustable base, the mattress support bars. They can significantly impact your user experience, safety and comfort, so let’s discover why these unsung heroes are so important in your upcoming electric adjustable base purchase.

What are mattress support bars and why are they important on electric adjustable beds?

Electric adjustable base mattress support bars are just that, bars that offer support to the mattress that will accompany your new bed. Electric adjustable beds have at least one of these (most commonly just one), and they are usually located on the foot end of the bed base. The number of support bars can differ between the range and even the brand, with some having as many as four or six support bars.

The main reason all electric adjustable beds have at least one mattress support bar is to stop the mattress from sliding off the end of the bed as the base moves. Mechanically speaking, it’s the electric adjustable base of the bed that actually moves, and the mattress is ‘forced’ to follow. Say out of all the features you were to select the Zero Gravity function on your wireless remote control, the base would then respond by lifting the foot end of the bed to around 45 degrees, whilst the head end of the bed would adjust up around 15 degrees to create a shape that mimics you floating in the water, or what an astronaut looks like floating in space. During these movements, the support bars ensure the mattress doesn’t simply slide off the bed instead of adjusting to the contours in the power base.

However, despite the industry seemingly accepting a single foot bar as sufficient, the mattress or mattresses can, and WILL, move in any direction, due to the limited bracing that a single bar can assist with. Whilst more features usually impact the costs and prices charged for these marvelous electric sleep systems, it can’t be understated how important this single feature is to your long-term ultimate comfort, pressure, and pain relief qualities that have directed you to checkout our article.

How do mattress support bars work on Adjustable Electric

Beds?

The bars, usually made from steel, but sometimes just plastic, extend from the electric adjustable beds base, to prevent the mattress or mattresses from sliding past the edge of the bed frame. So a foot-end mattress support bar would prevent the mattress or mattresses from sliding past the bottom or legs end of the bed frame. A head-end support bar would prevent the mattress or mattresses from sliding up and over the head end of the bed frame, sidebars prevent sideways movement etc.

By preventing this unwelcome and often unsafe movement, it limits the mattress’s ability to move incongruent with the adjustable base, meaning you control the mattress more precisely every time you adjust your adjustable bed with your wireless remote control. This unwelcomed movement can occur whilst sleeping in the bed, but more commonly occurs during transitioning into our out of your electric sleep system. Don’t let it be understated, this movement can be extremely dangerous and has been known to cause pain and injuries, which is in direct contrast to all those reasons you wanted to access the features of an electric bed in the first place.

The benefits of using mattress support bars on adjustable electric beds

The benefits of purchasing an electric adjustable bed are vast. People looking to prevent or at least looking at reducing snoring, seeking to remove pain or pressure points from the knees, hips, lower back, shoulders, and neck, customers looking to improve circulation both cardiovascular and lymphatic, simply just looking for the convenience of an elevated position like the Zero Gravity position, a good night’s sleep or just for general well being through to improving breathing whilst sleeping. These are just the tip of the iceberg of reasons we’ve been given by people who browse our range of adjustable electric beds. However, none of these outcomes would be even remotely possible, regardless of the features included, if your mattress or mattresses were able to move across the bed frame separate from the adjustable base, especially when you are entering or exiting the bed.

Mattress movement when entering, or exiting your electric adjustable bed can be extremely dangerous to any customer and make the option of using an adjustable base not suitable at all. At the end of the day, if you are going to purchase from the seemingly endless range of adjustable beds, you want to first confirm the quality, features, mattress feels will suit your needs, not just today, but long after you have purchased and had it delivered.

How to choose the right mattress support bars for your electric adjustable bed

Obviously, steel is better than plastic. The support bars can come under a lot of pressure, especially if you accidentally sit your body directly above the bar, this will create a situation where all your body weight is directly applied to the bar itself, so the materials that it is made of can play a significant part as to whether the bar breaks due to insufficient quality materials under your body weight. There is also considerable outward pressure to account for when the electric beds move. By selecting the Zero Gravity position, both the head is lifting at the same time the foot end is lifting, creating that pressure on the bars themselves as they prevent any unwanted mattress movement.

Secondly, the overall number of mattress support bars should be pivotal in your decision when weighing up all the features and functions of any of the electric beds you’re weighing up. Whilst browsing electric adjustable beds in a store or bedding shop with a range of different options, don’t be lured in too much by the latest offers or an apparent sale on specific brands with specific stock included and other stock not included in the sale. Your overall ‘user experience’ should rate the highest, and the total number of mattress supports is most definitely going to shape whether you love or hate this new bedroom centerpiece.

To put it simply, one mattress support bar is NOT sufficient, despite it being the standard across most beds here in Australia. Sure it will stop the mattress or mattresses from sliding off the foot end of the bed, but it is guaranteed to have side and head slippage of the mattress or mattresses, which as we pointed out earlier, is not only inconvenient, it’s dangerous, especially at night if you’ve woken from your sleep to use the bathroom or check on the animals.

We use and recommend a 4 corner support bar configuration. This ensures each corner of your mattress or mattresses is securely held into place and completely eliminates any mattress movement. The availability of this configuration in the marketplace, both in-store and online, seems to be exclusive to Sleep Sophie.

Imagine having purchased a new adjustable bed from a store, bedding shop, or online after making your decision based on limited available stock, prices, a sale or services detail like the deliver and install process, only to see an ad for our range of adjustable beds pop up which completely eliminates mattress movement. I’m not sure you’d be sleeping soundly that night!

The different types of mattress support bars available on the market today

Aside from what the bars are made from, the biggest difference is the amount included in each brand or range or business that offers adjustable beds. In order of most common to least common they are;

Most Common:

One mattress support bar at the leg end of the bed

Second:

Two bars; one at the legs and one at the head end.

Third:

Three bars; one at the leg end, one on each side towards the head end of the mattress

Fourth:

Four Bars; One in each corner, wrapping around to prevent movement in each direction.

Fifth:

Six Bars; One at each end and 2 on each side. These beds usually come in a range that has pricing well outside the range of most consumers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is the writer’s strong opinion that the number of mattress support bars will significantly impact your enjoyment of your new adjustable bed, which in turn will definitely impact your sleep health and general well-being. So don’t rush through your purchase based on a sale or an electric adjustable bed that does not suit! Adjustable beds should last you 10-20 years depending on the quality you opt for, it’s going to be living in your bedroom for that long, you should ensure you are getting the best value for money from whichever business you end up choosing as your sleep partner/ bed supplier.

Hopefully, this article has highlighted to you the importance of this seemingly small feature of every electric adjustable bed and will prevent a not suitable or inferior quality electric sleep system for you from being delivered to your bedroom.

If you are based in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, or the Northern Territory here at Sleep Sophie we strongly believe we have the perfect electric adjustable bed to not only improve your sleep, but also assist in reducing all types of aches and pain including pain in the shoulders, neck, back, hips and knees, whilst also improving whole-body support including the famous Zero Gravity position, improve your nighttime breathing and additional services including extended warranties, delivery, and installation on our highest quality electric adjustable bed. Not all electric adjustable beds are created equal, so be sure to check out why we are the highest-rated and most suitable electric adjustable bases and mattresses in all of Australia. If you’re interested in more details or want to see if we have a sale running currently, be sure to pop an enquiry in so one of our dedicated electric adjustable bed specialists can tailor an option with full details on the varying options that are guaranteed to suit even the most decerning bedroom.

You can check out our range of premium electric adjustable beds here: Sleep Sophie Electric Adjustable Bed