A good match?

[phoenix]

Hi JP314,

I’ve read most of the articles on this site, and think I have a decent idea of what would be right for me. However since the choice is so specific to each person’s situation, I wanted to try and lay it all out to make sure I’m not making a mistake.

It’s a good idea to have some good information before you start testing mattresses and have some very general ideas about what may be “right” for you but I would be careful with any preconceptions because your actual experience can sometimes be very different from what you think may work well “in theory”.

Since there don’t seem to be any great mattress places on Long Island (NY), we took a trip to Sleepy’s to try out the different tempurpedic mattresses to use as a point of reference. We both enjoyed the Cloud Luxe, at least as much as one could while laying in a mattress store for ~10 minutes.

You may have seen this but some of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Long Island area are listed in post #4 here. I would also make sure that you test any mattress you are seriously considering for more than 10 minutes and with memory foam which can change how it feels as it warms up I would spend even longer than with other types of mattresses. The testing guidelines in the tutorial post include good information about testing mattresses.

I have been looking at the various alternatives to the Cloud Luxe, such as the Dreamfoam UD 13".

The tutorial post also includes a link to some of the better online memory foam retailers or manufacturers I’m aware of and many of these make or sell a mattress that uses the Cloud Luxe as a reference point. Post #9 here also has more information about the different ways that one mattress can “match” another one.

Your recommendation in the Statistics section of the site says lighter people should have “thinner and softer comfort layers and possibly softer or average support layers”. Certainly preference plays a role, but there is likely a threshold where you could say that it is unlikely to be supportive enough. So, am I asking for trouble by having 3" of 4lb gel foam over 2" of 5lb memory foam?

These are generic guidelines that are based on “theory” that are meant to help people understand some of the concepts involved in mattress design and matching a mattress to different body types, sleeping styles, and individual preferences but there are many variables and each person can be very different from the norm in one way or another so they are not useful as a specific suggestion and your own testing and experience is much more important than any “theory at a distance”. Memory foam is sensitive to temperature, humidity, and can also become softer with continuous pressure so it can change over the course of the night. With thicker layers of memory foam there is a greater risk that you can start the night off in good alignment but then as the memory foam softens over the course of the night it can allow the heavier parts of your body (the pelvis) to sink down too far which can lead to sleeping out of alignment which can result in back discomfort and pain in the morning. This is why it’s a good idea to have comfort layers that are “just enough” to relieve pressure in all your sleeping positions so that you don’t choose a mattress based on “showroom feel” alone and end up with a mattress that is too soft for your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP. So you aren’t necessarily “asking for trouble” but thicker comfort layers of softer foam can be a little more risky for some people depending on your body type, weight distribution, and sleeping style.

Phoenix