I am 38 years old , 5’11, 140 lb, and have slight scoliosis in my lower spine. Mix of side and back sleep. I wake up after 4-5 hours with dull lumbar pain and am unable to find restful sleep for the rest of the night. It more or less resolves after moving around each morning, but it certainly disrupts my sleep.
I have been sleeping on a sleepEZ latex mattress for 5 years, and have tried varying the layers to no avail. I have never felt the “Ahhh” feeling on this bed, and am thinking perhaps I’m not a latex mattress person. But then again nothing – hotel beds, guest beds, it doesn’t matter – brings relief to my lower back. Mattress shopping is difficult, as a wide range of mattresses feel good enough when testing at a store. It takes hours – not just 15-30 mins – for the lower back pain to set in.
Twist: we have a camper, and I sleep on a cheap air mattress (no comfort layer) on top of a joke of a 4 inch camper innerspring. I inflate it until it’s about to pop (very firm and…supportive?) and manage to wake up pain-free in my lower back! But conversely I wake up periodically through the night due to my shoulders becoming sore and “falling asleep,” I assume due to the excessive firmness of the air mattress. I have been (re)searching for a new mattress for 2 years, and it dawned on me that this finding may be pointing me in a direction, but am unsure what that is.
In terms of shopping, what should I be looking for? Airbed with a memory foam topper? Innerspring? Hybrid? Naturally given my only success, I gravitate toward air beds (real ones obviously, with quality foam comfort layers), but TMU seems rather cold on them.
I greatly appreciate any insight.
