What type of feel is right for you?
Do you ever wake up tossing and turning or feeling sore?
Proper mattress selection is imperative to getting restful sleep. Without good sleep, our entire day suffers not only in performance, but quality of life. For the most part people are back, side, or stomach sleepers. I personally am all of the above, all over the board! Did you know the firmness of a mattress can affect how certain types of sleepers feel?
We will Start with a FIRM bed: Firm beds provide great support and durability, especially because most firm beds use a stiffer coil than other beds. Manufacturers do this by using different gauges of steel, tempering the coils, or braiding the coils. These types of beds are great for back and stomach sleepers, keeping the spine neutral for the most part. Unfortunately, a firm bed can cause pressure build up for a side sleeper. The firm support does not provide enough pressure relief for a side sleeper, often causing pressure to build up in the shoulder and hip regions. This in turn will cause a side sleeper discomfort making them sore, and causing them to toss & turn throughout the night. This interrupts the individuals’ sleep cycle virtually eliminating REM sleep from their night. Rem sleep is the most restorative portion of the sleep cycle.
Next we will discuss PLUSH: A plush bed is the best choice for the all around sleeper. If you are on your stomach, back, and side throughout the night you will get adequate pressure relief from choosing a plush, but you will get a firm support enabling comfortable back/stomach sleeping without causing flexion/hyperextension of the low back. A plush is also the perfect middle ground for couples that have different tastes. Not too hard, not too soft, but just right! The added pressure relief from a plush bed will enable side sleepers to sleep on their side with less soreness, limb numbing, and spinal misalignment with a bed that doesn’t provide shoulder and hip pressure relief.
Now we will talk about PILLOWTOP: Pillowtop beds are the softest beds. They provide excellent pressure relief, and give you the sleeping on a cloud feeling. They are the thickest beds, and they cost the most. The price increase is largely due to the extra material needed to provide that cloud like feel. These beds are great for back and side sleepers, but can cause stomach sleepers to move into slight hyperextension of the trunk, which causes back pain and stiffness. Pillowtops definitely look the most impressive of the beds due to their inflated size.
I hope this provided you with some more knowledge when going to shop for the right bed for you!
Be sure to look for my next post going over the different types of beds and their benefits!start looking for a new mattress.