Power Pick: Casper Element Pro Mattress

Welcome to Power Picks, a monthly series on the things that help us navigate our lives, step into our personal power, or simply get us through our day-to-day. Our hope is that by sharing what makes us feel great, we can help you feel great, too.

It's not often that one product comes into your life and radically changes everything about it, but that's how I feel about Casper's Element Pro Mattress. It has, in no uncertain terms, made me into a better, more well-rested person. But before I get into exactly why that is, let me break down my sleeping history. 

Before my Casper, I was sleeping on a makeshift collection of two hand-me-down mattress pads (I'm the middle kid of three) and one very old mattress from my parent's house. To put it mildly, it wasn't working. I tend to get hot when I sleep, and the mattress pads only made the problem worse. I would sink into the top one immediately upon laying down, which would leave me feeling like I was in my own personal sauna after an hour or so. I was having a lot of back, shoulder, hip, and neck pain, which I chalked up to the fact that I was simply getting older; stress; and the fact that I'm a lifelong side sleeper. I also found that I would wake up in the middle of the night, completely uncomfortable and wide awake. 

Enter: The Casper Element Pro. On paper, it checked off every one of my boxes. It uses AirScape technology to keep you cool, and had a two-foam formulation for support and comfort. I had slept on a Casper before and knew that they made best-in-class mattresses, so I was excited to see how the new improvements made what I loved already even better. 

Casper Element Pro Mattress, $995 $796 at Amazon

This mattress changed how I sleep—and it's on sale for 20 percent off right now for in the Amazon Prime Sale. 

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Like all of Casper's products, the new queen-sized Element Pro Mattress arrived in a (heavy, but manageable) box, and unrolled onto my bed into a single flat layer. It reached its normal size in less than 10 minutes, which meant that it took less than 30 minutes for me to open the box, set it up, make my bed, and test it out. And let me tell you: This mattress is a game-changer.

Some immediate things I noticed: It was firmer than I expected. It also sat lower to the ground than my previous setup, which meant that I wasn't having to deal with it slipping and sliding off my bed frame as I slept at night. The memory foam was a bit firmer than my old pad, and so subtle that I almost didn't notice it at first. But, after a few moments of laying on it, I found that it gave in all the right places and left my body feeling aligned—as opposed to my old setup, which left my hips and shoulders visibly lower than the rest of my body.

The first night I slept on it, I slept for nearly 10 hours straight. When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the fact that I had been sleeping under my weighted blanket and a duvet, a hoodie, and sweatpants and I still felt cool. Then, when I stood up, I realized that I was virtually pain-free. As in, I felt no pain. Plus, the mattress was supportive enough that when my boyfriend got out of bed before me, my side of the bed didn't move an inch.

I know this sounds dramatic, but I don't think I've ever felt better than I did that morning. The little pops and cracks that usually accompanied my wakeup routine were nowhere to be found. And that night, the exact same thing happened: I slept through the night and awoke without pain, heat-stroke free. I even woke up early and felt well-rested enough to run several errands before work. To those that know me and my night-owl tendencies, this was a real shock.

Yes, the mattress is expensive at $895 for a Full and $995 for a Queen. But (and please don't take this lightly), the Element Pro is 100 percent worth it. I'd go so far as to argue that I've never made a better investment in myself, ever.