The size you choose is influential when selecting a new mattress, especially for couples with common conditions like back pain or sleep apnea symptoms. Especially for those with chronic conditions or trouble sleeping, your positioning and the amount of space you have to sleep comfortably will influence your potential to get a good night's rest, especially when sharing your sleep environment with someone else.
A split queen mattress is precisely how it sounds: a queen, divided separately into two 30-inch by 80-inch mattresses; still equaling a total of 60 inches by 80 inches—the standard queen dimensions.
Split sizes tend to be one of the best options for small spaces and for couples who want to sleep better, as they accommodate those with different bedtime routines or opposite sleep schedules. The best potential for co-sleepers to rest easily in one bed is to attain customizable support and comfort within your mattress, especially when sharing a queen bed. Combining the mattresses with split adjustable beds also offers options for dual positioning on both sides, allowing for personalized positioning for you and a partner or co-sleeper.
Split beds primarily offer advantages, such as the potential to customize the firmness on either side of the mattress or achieve independent positioning with an adjustable bed frame. Still, there are certain perks and drawbacks to consider with all split sizes, like a split queen bed:
- Split mattresses have a center gap, created by a divide down the middle—hence the name split bed.
- One side of a split queen mattress is 30 inches, less than the width of a twin mattress—38 inches.
- Split bed accessories like sheets are often more expensive than standard sizes.
- Limited availability of split queen options.
Queen Size Varieties
As you may have anticipated, split beds have both advantages and disadvantages that are important factors to think about when considering a split queen bed. You should also keep in mind that split mattresses are certainly easier to move or maneuver in areas with limited space or up stairways compared to non-split versions. Still, the standard queen mattress is the most universally common size that most bedrooms accommodate, and about half of adults in America sleep on queen beds.
Standard Queen
A queen mattress is the most popular size bed you'll find among adult couples. The standard queen—60 inches by 80 inches—fits in most bedroom spaces with furniture like a headboard, dresser, or nightstands, without blocking fixtures like doors, closets, or air vents.
Olympic Queen
You may not have heard of this size before—the Olympic queen. Today, Olympic queen is a novelty size that's pretty hard to find, compared to when it was released in 1999. This size is six inches wider than a standard queen mattress, supplying extra sleeping surface area for couples and co-sleepers. Still, this size—66 by 80 inches— was designed and intended for those who want more room to sprawl out and don't have the desire or necessary space for a king-size bed.
Evolution of the Split Queen
Mattress manufacturers have gone above and beyond to address some of the drawbacks of split beds, for instance, the center gap down the middle of the split mattress. At one point, only fully divided split beds—in king and sometimes queen sizes—were available.
Once the split bed is set up, even though you could hardly notice it with the sheets and comforter on—if not at all—some were disappointed by feeling a gap down the middle while lying across the center of the mattress—the cuddle zone.
Mattress makers like Bed Tech strive to continually improve their products, particularly those designed to help you sleep better—like hybrid mattresses for side sleepers. Certain manufacturers have more recently begun addressing the downsides of the split mattress, marking the beginning of the evolution of the split queen bed and the development of the split-head queen mattress.
Split Queen
A split queen is a standard queen mattress with a vertical divide down the center, creating two separate mattresses. A standard queen's dimensions are 60 x 80 inches, making each half 30 x 80 inches. If you don't have enough space for a king size, a split queen or split queen variation is undeniably the second-best option.
Still, with a split queen, you have the full divide down the middle, and each half of the split queen is only two and a half feet wide, giving you less than the width of a twin mattress to yourself if you're sleeping next to someone else.
Split-Head Queen
To handle some of the concerns surrounding split beds, mattress manufacturers developed an innovative new size: split-head. The split-head size allows for dual support and positioning with an adjustable bed base, and the mattress is one piece rather than two. Although split-head mattresses won't provide the option of different firmnesses on either side without modifiable air chamber mattress technology, they're still an ideal option for couples and co-sleepers.
With a split-head mattress, the divide isn't entirely down the middle, keeping the 'cuddle zone' in the center. Split-head beds are not completely divided; instead, the mattress is one piece.
How does the mattress separate into different positions with an adjustable bed? Because the split runs vertically from the top, approximately 30 inches down the length of the mattress, allowing for the mattress to flex and bend into different positions on each side of the queen bed.
It’s unmistakable, split-head mattress sleep systems are one of the best options for couples and co-sleepers. This size preserves the snuggle spot near the middle of the bed, allowing sleepers to enjoy dual adjustability and lumbar support with an adjustable bed and sleep independence with a comfortable and customizable sleep system.
Adjustable Beds in Split Queen are More Common than Mattresses
Split queen mattresses—with the full divide—aren't necessarily a product that most major mattress manufacturers produce today. Nevertheless, mattress foundations—such as the Bed Tech 3000 split queen adjustable bed—are relatively common in the market for split queen beds. Some adjustable bed brands, such as Bed Tech, view a split queen adjustable bed as a standard specialty item, making them readily available with free delivery to your home.
Split Queen Adjustable Beds are Available to Pair With Split-Head Queen Mattresses
As mentioned earlier, split queen adjustable beds are more commonly available, as they work exceptionally well with split-head queen mattresses, like the Copper Luxe 14'' mattress. What most shoppers don't realize is that even though a split-head mattress isn't fully divided, you can still utilize customizable head and foot positioning with an adjustable bed frame, such as the BT6500 adjustable bed.
Because a split queen base is fully divided beneath the partially split-head mattress, you can still operate the base to lift one half of the foot portion of the queen-size mattress. This adjustment can be performed without significantly affecting the other side of the queen bed, unless you adjust the feet to a more elevated position.
Until more recently, the chance to elevate your head and feet separately on both sides with a queen adjustable bed was entirely out of the question. Before, you needed a split king-size to accomplish that.
Regardless, with the split-head queen-size mattress, even if you don't have the space for a king bed, you can take advantage of prime opportunities to improve sleep independence and your satisfaction by finding comfort next to your partner or another sleeper.
Customary Split Queen Products Include Boxspring Foundations
The most common product available in the fully divided split queen size is a box spring. Boxsprings are rigid foundations—often made of steel and wood— with fabric wrapped around the outside. Boxsprings no longer have springs—since the retirement of the flippable mattress, springs inside box springs are no longer necessary to accommodate the padding on the underside of the mattress.
Still, box spring foundations are required to be used with specific types of bed frames, like panel beds with a headboard and footboard. But, boxsprings are not required with an adjustable bed. The split queen box spring variety remains commonly available to this day because box springs are inflexible and rigid, creating a need for a split queen box spring that can fit through narrow stairwells or hallways. For the same reason, king boxspring foundations are also always sold in two pieces.
Discover Bed Tech's Split-Head Queen Sleep Systems
Several factors ought to be evaluated when selecting a mattress and creating a comfortable split bed sleep system that best suits your needs.
As we're now familiar, the fully divided split queen mattress is far from traditional. If you're shopping for one, you'll find that they have limited availability. This size consists of two mattresses, each with dimensions of 30 inches wide and 80 inches long. When set up side by side, they form a standard queen-size bed, also providing the option to choose mattresses with different firmnesses on each side of the bed.
Today, split-head systems in queen size are certainly more popular and easier to find compared to fully divided queen mattresses. Split beds—queen and king size—are ideal for couples with opposite schedules. They're also an exceptional choice if co-sleepers in one bed have different body types or preferences for factors that impact sleep, such as body temperature and spinal curvature support.
The Bed Tech Sleep Experts have underlined the pros and cons of split beds. Now, you can choose with confidence between a fully divided split bed and a split-head bed, also called an upper flex. Bed Tech presents its luxuriously affordable selection of split-head beds—the Copper Lux, Copper Lux Hybrid, and Gel Max 12'' mattress—that are universally compatible with all Bed Tech adjustable beds in split or split-head size. So, don't hold back, visit the Bed Tech online shop and browse split head sleep systems today!