'A firm mattress that helped my lower back pain' – I put the Sealy Newton Posturepedic to the test

This Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress review puts the brand's hybrid latex and coil spring mattress through its paces.

If you’re looking for a mattress that prioritises your posture and can help with back pain, then the fact that Sealy has worked with the International Orthopaedic Advisory Board for nearly two decades could be a huge draw. The brand states that this board is made up of 'Orthopaedic surgeons, bio-mechanical engineers and medical scientists', and the Newton Posturepedic mattress has been designed in conjunction with this team of Orthopaedic specialists.

The Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress is also endorsed by Allergy UK, with the 'ProShield® fibres' that are woven into the fabric of the mattress designed to repel allergens and keep dust mites at bay.

Sealy also says that the mattress offers a 'comfortable and supportive sleep', edge support for a 'larger sleep surface', and 'Intelligent SmarTex® fibres' that can regulate temperature and wick away moisture during sleep for a comfortable night’s rest.

They're some impressive claims, and as a 43-year old Mum of two children (who often climb into mine and my husband's bed at night), who suffers from tight shoulders, lower back and hip pain, and occasional overheating at night, I was eager to find out if those claims would deliver in practice. 

The good news? I wasn't disappointed, with the Newton mattress easing my lower back pain and impressing my whole family when it came to its sleep comfort. Read on to find out how the Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress compares to the best mattresses the Ideal Home team has tested.

Sealy Newton Posturepedic Mattress review

Specifications

• Type: Hybrid
• Construction materials: Open coil springs, latex, and foam
• Number of springs:  Open coil (unlike individual pocket springs an open coil sping is one continuous unit)
• Memory foam: No, latex is used instead
• Sizes: Single, Double, King, Superking
• Comfort level: Firm
• Height: 27cm
• Side handles: Yes
• Flip or rotate?: Rotate
• Manufacturer sleep trial: No

How I tested

Rachel Tompkins

Sleep position: back or side
Tension preference: firm
Sleep problems: lower back pain and/or neck pain and occasional overheating
Height & weight:  5"5 and 9.5 stones

I’m Rachel, a 43-year old mother and freelance reviewer who helps the Ideal Home team put all manner of products through their paces to find the top recommendations for our readers. For this review, I tested the Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress in a double size on a traditional slatted bed base. 

I suffer from tight shoulders from hunching over at a laptop all day which often results in a stiff neck, and also sometimes experience lower back and hip pain and occasional overheating at night. I usually sleep on a memory foam mattress, so I was eager to try out a firmer mattress – and one with a latex rather than a memory foam comfort layer – to see if it did a better job of eliminating my usual aches and pains and if it could prevent night-time overheating.

I also share my bed with my husband, and sometimes my children, so I was perfectly placed to test out the Newton Posturepedic's ability to isolate motion. If one of the children joins us in the night then sleeping space is at a premium, so I also got plenty of opportunity to test out the mattress' edge support.

Construction

The Sealy Newton Posturepedic Mattress is a hybrid mattress that's described by the brand as a ‘traditional spring mattress topped off with a layer of natural latex for enhanced support’.

The mattress is made up of five main layers. Firstly there's the quilted cover. This boasts ‘Intelligent SmarTex® fibres’ which Sealy says will help to regulate body temperature by drawing moisture, such as sweat, away from the skin for a more comfortable night sleep. This quilted layer also includes 'ProShield® fibres' that are endorsed by Allergy UK and aim to keep allergens and dust mites at bay.

Next up there's the 'Latex ComfortCore®' which is designed to offer 'pressure support to the heaviest parts of your body', namely the lower back and hip area to help maintain the spine’s neutral position whilst lying down.

Underneath that are two layers of Sealy’s extra firm foam to create the firmer-feel sleep surface, and the open coil springs.

Unlike a pocket spring mattress where the springs are individually cased to prevent motion transfer, open coil springs are made from one continuous spring unit that is interlaced together. As such I was particularly interested to see how the Sealy Newton Posturepedic Mattress would perform in our motion isolation tests.

Then there's the 'Unicased XT®' which is the name of the polyethylene edge support, and a 'BasePlank' base layer.

Delivery

I’m not going to lie, I personally found the delivery process with this mattress tricky to say the least! 

Unlike our previous memory foam mattress which arrived rolled allowing for easy manoeuvring up our narrow, steep and winding staircase, this one arrived flat and sealed in a plastic bag. 

The delivery men were unable to get it up the stairs without bending it – which apparently they’re not insured to do in case bending the mattress damages it – so my husband and I tried to heave it up. 

After a few minutes of pushing and pulling and huffing and puffing we admitted defeat! I’m 5 foot 5 inches and not overly strong, and this mattress felt heavy. In the end we enlisted the help of two other people and between the three of them and a bit of manoeuvring they managed it. They credited the mattress's four side handles for making manoeuvring much easier. 

Whilst I certainly can’t blame the mattress for the fact that our house is an old property with stairs that are steeper and bendier than most, the fact that it arrives flat means it’s definitely worth considering whether you’ll be able to a) lift it, and b) get it up your stairs! 

After removing the plastic packaging, I was happy to find that the mattress didn’t have an overpowering smell like previous mattresses we bought. My son commented on it having an odour the first night he slept on it, but said he liked the smell, so it definitely wasn’t offensive, and within about a week there was no odour at all.

Comfort

Next up, it was testing out how the mattress felt to sleep on.

I favour two sleep positions, either on my side or on my back and also suffer from neck pain and sometimes lower back pain. Typically people who sleep on their sides and have joint pain are advised to sleep on a memory foam mattress, because of the fact that the reactive surface moulds around the shoulders and hips to help relieve aching joints. 

I hate the feeling of a soft mattress which you sink into, however, I must admit that when I first laid on the Sealy Newton Posturepedic Mattress it felt firmer than I was expecting. That said, the quilted surface of the mattress certainly felt more padded, luxurious and comfortable than the other sprung mattresses we have at home.

The fact that I didn’t wake up with lower back ache like I often do whilst sleeping could be down to the 'Latex ComfortCore™', which is positioned inside the mattress and is designed to target hips and lower back for pressure relief.

My son commented that it was like a giant comfy honeycomb, due to the design. And whilst I usually add a mattress topper to my mattresses for comfort, it certainly wasn’t needed on this occasion.

Temperature regulation

The Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress boasts ‘Intelligent SmarTex® fibres’ which the brand says will help to regulate your temperature and wick moisture, such as sweat, away from the body during the night. 

In simple terms, the SmartTex is a coating that's applied to the outer fabrics on the mattress. A lot of people complain about being too hot in bed, and Smartex aims to help to prevent that overheating during the night.

I’m always cold when I go to bed at night and often wear two layers, which means I then wake up too hot and sweating. So I was really interested to see if this mattress' temperature regulation claims made a noticeable difference. 

After sleeping on this mattress for a couple of weeks I realised that my temperature seemed to be much more regulated and I wasn’t waking up drenched in sweat like I sometimes have been. My husband and sons who are always hot also said that they felt like this mattress kept them cooler than most.

Whilst I can's say for sure that the temperature regulation was down to the Intelligent SmarTex® fibres doing their job, I certainly seemed to overheat less on this Sealy mattress than my usual memory foam mattress. No doubt the hexagonal quilting on the top of the mattress also played a part, as besides just looking stylish, those deep grooves may help with airflow between the body and the mattress.

Motion isolation

Sharing my bed with my husband, or sometimes my children, means that I’m very aware of motion transfer and how debilitating it can be to sleep. Motion transfer refers to the movements that you feel when the other person in the bed moves, and can easily be pictured by thinking about what happens when one person jumps onto a trampoline and the other is catapulted into the air. If a mattress allows for motion transfer it can impact the quality, and quantity, of your sleep.

Our existing mattress is a memory foam one and so motion transfer is not something I experience often. I was concerned that because the Sealy Newton Posturepedic Mattress is a sprung mattress (and of course springs are there for bounce) that motion transfer would be a problem. Especially because the Newton uses coil springs (one long continuous set of springs) rather than individual pocket springs, and coil springs can be more prone to transferring movement across the mattress.

However, as soon as I started testing this mattress I quickly discovered that motion transfer wasn't a problem! Whilst a certain amount of motion transfer could be felt from the other person in the bed, this certainly wasn’t enough to negatively impact our sleep and definitely not enough to wake me up in the night. 

Likely the latex layer helps to dampen movement, helped by Sealy's method of lacing those coi springs together, and the Unicased XT edge support which the brand says 'locks in' to the spring unit to help reduce motion transfer further.   

Edge support

The Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress has what the brand refers to as ‘Responsive UniCased® edge support’, or in other words a firm edge, which is meant to not only offer a larger sleep surface, but eliminate that 'rolling off' feeling as you sleep.

I spoke to the manufacturer in order to understand a bit more about what exactly this means, and they said that the 'Unicased XT' surrounds the mattress and provides firm support right up to the very edge.

As someone who often sits on the edge of their children’s mattress to speak to them and read them a story at bedtime, as well as sitting on the edge of mine every morning to put my socks on, I could certainly notice the benefit of this additional edge support. It also created a sense of having a bigger sleep surface because of the fact that you didn’t sink down if you got too close to the edge.

The fact that it retains its height and form would be particularly beneficial for people with mobility issues as it can make getting out of bed easier.

Additional features

The Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress is endorsed by Allergy UK and the manufacturer explains that 'ProShield® fibres' are woven into the fabric of the mattress to keep allergens and dust mites at bay.

Upon researching what exactly ProShield® is, I discovered that it’s a probiotic which releases friendly bacteria in order to keep house dust mites at bay and reduce allergens. It’s an ecologically manufactured material that prevents the activation of bacteria released by friction between the sleeper’s body and the mattress. This is supposedly down to the fibres which prevent the germination process as they absorb moisture and consume flakes of skin, dead bacteria and dust mite secretions.

As someone who is often very sneezy in the morning, or when exposed to pollen or dust, I noticed that on mornings when I had slept on this mattress I wasn’t experiencing any of the irritation that I sometimes do. Whether that’s down to the mattress, chance, or placebo, I can’t say for sure, but it was definitely a welcome improvement. 

Third-party reviews

The majority of the reviews I found for the Sealy Newton Posturepedic were positive, with it currently achieving 4.5 out of 5 stars from customers reviewing it on the Bensons For Beds website.

Like me, customers appreciate its firm and supportive sleep, with one reviewer noting 'I wanted a firm mattress and when I sit on the edge of the bed I didn't want to sink down like many mattresses. I have found this mattress exactly what I wanted. Its comfortable and I sleep so much better now. And when I get out of bed or sit on it, it is well supported. It's got to be the best mattress I have ever bought. I would highly recommend this mattress, if you need a firm and supported one.’

Another reviewer mentions that it's helped with back pain, although they also note the mattress's tendency to slide on the bed base. This definitely isn't a problem we experienced and could possibly be more of a reflection on the base itself rather than the mattress.

This particular reviewer also mentioned experiencing motion transfer, which was again not something that was a problem for me when testing it. They say the Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress is, 'very comfortable and supportive. My husband's back pain has eased after sleeping on this mattress. It is lighterweight than our previous mattresses and has a tendency to slide on the base. Also, we've noticed when each other turns over in the night, the movement is notably felt on the other side as if experiencing a tremor!’.

Verdict

Overall, I was impressed by the Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress. Whilst it took me a while to adjust its firmer sleep surface I soon found that its hybrid latex and coil spring design helped to reduce my lower back ache compared to the memory foam mattress I had previously been sleeping on.

It also offered great edge support – a real bonus when my children wanted to climb into our bed too – that created the sense of a larger sleeping area and eliminated any risk we might roll off towards the edge. That firm support is also great for anyone who may struggle to get out of bed.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the mattress's motion isolation – something that had been a concern due to its continuous coil spring support system. Whilst it doesn't dampen movement as much as my memory foam mattress, it does still do a good job of reducing bounce from one side of the bed to the other, with only a little motion transfer experienced when my husband and I were sharing the bed, or when my children jumped in. As hot sleepers, my family and I also rate the mattress's temperature regulation.

And, if you suffer from allergies then the fact that the mattress is endorsed by Allergy UK could be a big draw. The allergy and dust-mite resistant 'ProShield® fibres' woven into the mattress cover certainly seemed to stop me sneezing during my testing experience. The fact that the mattress is designed in conjunction with the Orthopaedic Advisory Board could also be great peace of mind for anyone who suffers with joint pain.

As this isn't a mattress-in-a-box, you will just need to factor in delivery access. We struggled to get this mattress up our awkward stairs as it was delivered flat, whereas we found our previous mattress-in-a-box style of mattress a doddle in comparison. 

Another downside is that unlike many mattress manufacturers, Sealy doesn't offer a sleep trial with the Sealy Newton Posturepedic mattress. This is a bit of a shame as it can take a while to adjust to a new mattress and test out whether the construction is for you.

However, as long as you're looking for a firm sleep surface then I don't think you'll be disappointed in this investment. I would say it suits pretty much all sleeping positions, and everyone in my house gave this mattress their ‘firm’ (get it!) seal of approval. In fact it’s been so popular that we’ve currently enlisted a rotation system to decide who sleeps on it when!