There are a number of ways to tell that you may need a new mattress set. Among these are: Consistently wake up during the night; Tossing and turning, hoping to find an area on the mattress that is comfortable; Waking up with a backache and it goes away later in the day. These are pretty good clues you need a new set. Another thing to think about when it comes to knowing if you need a new set is the length of time that you’ve had it. Every night that you sleep on your mattress it absorbs body fluids, dead skin cells and hair follicles. This creates a prime habitat for dust mites and other microorganisms to breed and this can cause serious issues for people with allergies (and even those who don’t). The longer that you’ve had your mattress, the greater amounts of those things have accumulated, which obviously has a negative impact on your health. Considering that you spend 1/3 of your life on a mattress, these are important factors to think about. Having a mattress protector for your mattress will help to mitigate most of these issues, but most people who have had their mattress for the last 10 years don’t use one.