Is it time for you to get a new mattress? Here are a few factoids to get you thinking.

-It’s recommended that we change our mattress every five to seven years. Think about it – our bodies can change a lot in that amount of time, and physical needs may be different than they were when the mattress was purchased. Forget when you bought it? Check the mattress tag.

-Find yourself rolling toward the center of your bed? That’s a sure sign that the mattress is sagging (not merely “broken in”), and is more than ready to be replaced. A mattress should be responding to your body, after all – not the other way around.

-If you’re routinely waking up with aches and pains (and aren’t training for a decathlon), a new mattress may be in order. Older, broken-down mattresses lack the support our bodies need in order to fully restore themselves while at rest.

-Two (not totally savory) words: sweat and oil. As we sleep, our bodies shed them both naturally, rendering the mattress a dust mite’s (and bacteria’s) dream. Contact with either can result in skin breakouts and allergies (the sore-throat-and-itchy-nose kind) on our end – both of which of course lead to less sleep (and more discomfort). Oh, and, a quick FYI: millions of dust mites can live in a mattress at one time. If that’s not an argument for a new mattress, I don’t know what is.