Hey Maverick, thanks for the reply & no worries about the directness. People say I’m pretty direct, when they really mean I’m just blunt…. I’m going to post my answers below the questions you asked to make this easier to read, albeit long.
First, how old is your mattress, and does it have any visible body impressions, sagging, or soft spots? Even if there aren’t any visible impressions, do you notice any softer or compromised areas when you roll across the mattress? Have you been rotating it regularly?
The mattress is about 3-4 years old and is part of a set I purchased when I relocated out here full time. I actually have (2) Twin XL’s put together to form a king because the tight spacing of the staircase in my home would not allow a full king mattress to pass. I do rotate the mattress regularly & swap it with the other Twin XL as I live alone. I don’t see/feel any sagging in either of them.
I’d also like to know exactly what mattress you have. For example, many Beautyrest innerspring mattresses use a high-density foam encasement around the perimeter. Since you mentioned that you prefer sleeping right at the edge of the mattress, it’s worth knowing whether your mattress has this type of construction. If it does, part of your body may be resting on the firmer edge foam while the rest is supported by the main comfort layers. Depending on your body type and sleeping position, that transition could contribute to pressure points or discomfort, particularly with an already injured shoulder.
It’s a no-name mattress from a store that went out of business. I liked it because I had previously purchased a Queen from this place and it slept really well. Sorry, but I can’t tell you anything more about its construction, and in fact, I simply guessed that it’s a conventional innerspring type.
Second, when you say it’s a “traditional innerspring,” can you tell us a little more about it? Is it an older two-sided Bonnell or offset coil mattress that was originally designed to work with an active box spring, or is it a newer innerspring that was designed to be used on a rigid foundation? That distinction matters because many older innerspring mattresses relied on the flex of an active box spring as part of the overall comfort and support system. If one of those mattresses is now sitting on a sheet of ¾-inch plywood, the bed may feel considerably firmer and provide less pressure relief than it was originally designed to.
Again, I really know nothing about its inner construction.
The plywood also makes me want to better understand your support system. Was it added because the original foundation failed, because your bed frame had widely spaced slats, or for another reason? If this is an older traditional innerspring that was designed to work with an active box spring, replacing that system with a rigid surface can change both the comfort and support characteristics of the mattress.
The bed itself came from Wayfair and after assembly, it creaked a LOT and I thought perhaps the creaking was contributing to my poor sleeping. I read where replacing the slats with a solid piece of ¾” plywood could help, so I did that, and it all but eliminated the creaking, but it didn’t seem to help my “sleep score”. It’s a storage type bed so the top of the mattress is sitting fairly high (34”) off the floor and adding a box spring would be prohibitive as I’d probably need a step stool to climb into the bed.
Along those same lines, I’d also want to know more about the support system underneath. Is the plywood sitting on top of an existing box spring or foundation, or is the mattress resting directly on the plywood? Has the foundation been inspected to make sure it’s still structurally sound and performing as intended? A support system can appear perfectly fine visually while no longer providing the characteristics the mattress was engineered to work with.
The mattress is sitting directly on the plywood, and the plywood is fastened to the bed frame.
Your shoulder injury is another important factor. Since you prefer sleeping on that side, additional pressure relief may certainly help. A Talalay latex topper is often an excellent choice because it provides excellent pressure relief while maintaining good support and spinal alignment without the slow response and heat retention that many people experience with traditional memory foam. But I wouldn’t recommend a specific thickness or firmness until it’s clear that the mattress itself is still in good condition and is being properly supported.
I feel both the mattresses are in fairly good shape, especially since I rotate both of them regularly & switch which one I sleep on.
I’d also encourage you to spend some time trying to transition to sleeping on your back, even if it’s only for part of the night. For someone with a chronic rotator cuff injury, back sleeping generally places much less stress on the shoulder than spending hours sleeping directly on it. I know changing long-established sleep habits isn’t easy, but even partial success can sometimes make a noticeable difference.
I’ve found that I start the night sleeping on my right side, however when I awake in the morning, I’m typically on my back if it’s been a “rough” night with lots of wakeups. When I’ve been dead tired and there haven’t been as many wakeups, I tend to wakeup the same way I went to sleep, ie on the right side.
Once we know the age and condition of the mattress, the type of innerspring, and exactly what it’s being supported by, we can make a much more confident recommendation. A Talalay topper may indeed be the right answer, but it’s important to make sure we’re addressing the root cause rather than simply treating the symptom. My approach has always been to diagnose the entire sleep system before prescribing a solution. A topper is an excellent tool for fine-tuning pressure relief while maintaining proper spinal alignment, but it isn’t a substitute for a mattress or support system that is no longer performing as designed.
I appreciate your thorough approach and time spent diagnosing the issue. Far better than throwing out an off the cuff recommendation, and I’m sure we’ll come up with a better solution.
), but there are quite a few variables that I’d want to understand before recommending a topper.
. Hotel pillows are the worst!