I upgraded to a split king mattress — and it's completely changed how I sleep

As someone who slept on the floor for six years, I never thought I’d upgrade to a proper bed. But that all changed earlier this week when my new split king mattress arrived at my doorstep.

Up until recently, I never really put much thought into my bed. However, that changed as I’ve grown older and started noticing the aches and pains that come from sleeping on a worn-out mattress.

For instance, back when I lived alone in a small apartment with only one room, I was more than content to sleep on the floor. You see, at the time, I had a choice between having a living room or a bedroom and I opted for the former. When it came time to call it quits for the night, I would just use a floor mattress to sleep on so that I could save space.

Other than visitors constantly asking me where my bed was, this approach worked for the most part. That is until I met my wife. While she was willing to put up with my floor mattress back then, once we moved in together and then got a house, she insisted on getting a real bed, so that’s what we did.

While our queen mattress served us well for the first few years, as our family got larger, it was clear we needed a bigger bed. We had originally intended to just get a king bed but while window shopping at a local furniture store that was going out of business, we saw a deal that was just too good to pass up.

Not what I imagined

I thought upgrading from a queen size bed to a king bed was going to be a lot more difficult and that I would have to take off a door or even two to get our new mattress inside our bedroom. As it turns out, with a split king, you actually have two, twin XL mattresses that go together to form a king-sized bed.

When we were at the store last Saturday, we really went in with the intention of just looking around to see if there were any deals. While I was looking at a few of the best gaming monitors and a Razer Blade 14 that were all heavily discounted in the electronics section, my wife had her eyes on the prize and was testing out all of the different beds. Eventually she called me over to come check out some of the mattresses at the back of the store.

We tried several mattresses from Saatva, Purple, Helix and a few other more premium brands before deciding to go with one from Tempur-Pedic. Normally, one of the best mattresses would have been out of our price range but since they were on sale and we were looking for a bed that would last us a long time, we decided to splurge a bit.

TEMPUR-ProAdapt Medium Hybrid Split King: was $5,798 now $5,398 @ Tempur-Pedic
The Tempur-Adapt is a medium-firm, hybrid mattress that’s an excellent choice for back sleepers and especially those with back pain. It has balanced support, excellent motion isolation and comes with a 10-year warranty. Besides split king, the Tempur-Adapt is available in every other size and configuration you could want, from a twin all the way up to a California King. View Deal

Even though we had walked in looking for a king-sized mattress, when we tried the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt , we knew we had found the one for us. There was only one problem though — the only version of this mattress they had left was a split king instead of a traditional king.

After quickly looking over some explainers from the sleep section on Tom’s Guide, I realized the benefits of a split king mattress even though I honestly hadn’t heard of one before. After picking out a bed frame to go with our new mattresses and a trip to the register, we arranged to have everything delivered on Monday.

I still need to get rid of our old mattress but fortunately, we’ve already found a good home for our old bed.

Surprisingly spacious even with the split

I knew going from a 60-inch wide queen mattress to a 76-inch wide king-sized one would provide us with the extra space we need as a growing family. Besides my wife and I, our Labrador Retriever usually joins us in bed, and our toddler does make the odd appearance when he’s sick or we’re just too tired to bring him back to his room when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

While you would think the XL in twin XL would mean a wider mattress, that actually isn’t the case. Instead, a twin XL mattress is actually just longer at 80 inches as opposed to 74. Still, having two of them side by side gives you the full 76 inches that you’d get with a king mattress, albeit with a slight gap between the two.

If you happen to get a split king at a closeout sale like we did and are worried about the gap, don’t be, as there are some steps you can take to keep the two mattresses together like using straps or a bed bridge. We haven’t tried out either of these yet but it’s good to know that we have options if the gap becomes a problem down the line.

Sharing a bed but not a mattress

So why get a split king in the first place? For us, it was the only version of our favorite mattress left on the show floor, but there are plenty of other benefits, too.

For starters, with a split king mattress, you can pair it with an adjustable base . This way, one person can sit up reading or watching TV while the other person sleeps. There are also adjustable bases designed to reduce snoring that will lift your head up as soon as snoring is detected. The downside, though, is that most of these are electric and since we have a toddler who loves pushing buttons, we went with a standard bed frame instead. (When he gets older, we could upgrade to an adjustable base as the mattress we got has a 10-year warranty, and there are plenty of things you can do to extend the life of your mattress even further.)

TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow (standard) was $89 now $65 @ Amazon
The TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow is made from 100% polyester and adapts to your head, neck and shoulders for added comfort. Not only is it an ideal pillow for back, side and stomach sleepers but it also comes with a removable, machine-washable knit cover. Since the TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow compresses quite easily, you can also bring it with you when you travel to feel like you’re sleeping in your own bed. View Deal

The biggest benefit for us is that with a split king, you’re still sharing a bed but you’re no longer sharing a mattress. I often work late and my wife goes to bed earlier. When I crawl into bed with our new mattress, I don’t bother her. Likewise, when she wakes up in the morning, I don’t feel it when she gets out of bed. Our dog also frequently gets down in the middle of the night to patrol the house and when he runs and jumps back onto the bed, it isn’t nearly as noticeable as it was with our last mattress.

Another thing that’s great about a split king vs a traditional king is that it’s much easier to move two twin XL mattresses. You won’t need to take any doors off their hinges or struggle to get a king-sized mattress up a set of stairs or around a corner.

Never slept so soundly

While opting for a split king bed has certainly had its benefits so far, it’s the Tempur-Adapt hybrid mattress that has drastically improved the quality of my sleep.

I’m a side sleeper but before I drift off, I like to lie on my back for a bit. Doing so on the Tempur-Adapt immediately surprised me. Though I could feel a lot of support on my shoulders, I felt the small of my back sinking into the mattress  — but in a good way.

After lying like this for a few minutes, it really started to feel like my spine was readjusting itself after all those years of sleeping on a lumpy mattress. In fact, when I woke up the next morning, it almost felt as if I had visited a chiropractor while I slept. I liken it to spending a day working in one of the best office chairs after using one without lumbar support since I mainly cover home office furniture.

As we got our split king mattress and new bed frame in a bundle, the store also threw in a pair of pillows for good measure. While we had our pick of the ones in the store, in the end, we decided to go with Tempur-Cloud pillows so that we could get the full Tempur-Pedic experience. I opted for the extra soft one with built-in cooling while my wife got a similar pillow that was soft instead of extra soft.

Even if you’re not quite ready to fully upgrade your bed or mattress, it’s worth checking out our list of the best pillows to get a taste for just how good your next bed can feel. Keep in mind though, you want to get a pillow that suits your sleep style.

The upgrade I didn’t know we needed

At the start of the summer, we planned on getting a bigger bed so that my wife and I and our dog wouldn’t be vying for space on our queen-sized mattress. Honestly, there were some nights where the two of them would take over most of the bed and I was left with just a sliver of space.

Now with our new split king mattress, I don’t need to worry about falling off the bed anymore. Likewise, I feel a lot better when I wake up in the morning free of aches and pains. At the same time, this upgrade has made such a tremendous difference that I’m now eager to climb into bed at the end of the day.

Sure, a split king won’t be for everyone. However, even if you don’t plan on pairing it with an adjustable base, there are still plenty of benefits to having your own mattress. You’re also not tied to having the same mattress and one person can get one that’s softer while the other person might prefer a firmer mattress. As everyone sleeps differently and puts more or less wear and tear on their mattress, you can replace one side without having to get a whole new mattress for both people.

I'm quite happy with our new bed — even if it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting — and now I can’t wait to spend tomorrow morning sleeping in.

More from Tom's Guide

• Mattresses sizes: a complete guide and how to choose
• These are the best mattresses for side sleeper
• 5 signs you need a split California king mattress not a split king