Right now my mattress is (top to bottom) 2" soft talalay, 3" firm dunlop, 3" x-firm dunlop. I’m pretty comfortable on it, but tomorrow I am getting a 3" medium dunlop layer to try soft/medium/firm or soft/medium/x-firm. I think one of these three options will be my final layering arrangement. These are SleepEZ layers.
If I decide to keep the new configuration, is there any real difference between having an x-firm layer or a firm layer on the bottom? What if I were to gain weight?
The difference between firm and X-firm would be more noticeable to people that were heavier than those that were lighter. the deeper in a mattress a layer is … the less it will affect the overall feel of the mattress. Like all things “mattresses” it would also depend on the sensitivity of each person to their sleeping alignment.
In your case … it wouldn’t likely make a huge difference. It’s also interesting though that people who are taller and slimmer also fall on both sides of the spectrum. Some like softer mattresses because it takes softer layers to sink in as much as a heavier person does while others like firmer layering because they don’t have enough weight to cause real pressure issues and tend to sleep more sprawled out and like the freedom of movement that comes from a firmer mattress where they don’t sink in as much. There’s no right or wrong in this … only preferences. The key with pressure relief is “enough” and the key with alignment is that it inside the range that is comfortable for each person and allows the mattress to do all the work without having to keep any of their muscles tense. Different levels of flexibility as well as different body shapes will make a big difference in this.
You would have to gain a LOT of weight for the firm layer on the bottom to be too soft for your build
My sense is that your alignment would be good with soft/medium/firm (or of course firmer as well) and that a little bit on the softer side (but still supportive) may a little kinder to your bulging disc and more adaptable to your two main sleeping positions … but of course your own experience would be more accurate than my “theory at a distance” with all the variables that can be involved in each person’s definition of “perfect”.
Probably not for most people of your weight and height with “average” perceptions or sensitivities. The top 5" of the mattress would have far more to do with how it felt than one degree of difference in the lower 3". The “transition” between the top and middle layer would probably contribute more to the feel of the mattress with a 2" top layer than the difference in firmness of the bottom layer.
