First night on latex...

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Yesterday we received our split Cal King Natural Select 10" from SleepEZ. It is all blended Talalay. My side is S/M/F, and my husband’s side is M/M/F.

I was impressed by the quality of the materials. The cover is lovely, nice and thick with a good zipper, and I was pleasantly surprised that it’s organic cotton even though we went with the Natural Select line rather than the Organic line. Assembly was relatively painless (although everything was much heavier than I’d anticipated).

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the free sheets. They are even certified organic. Also, the free latex pillows are quite nice; they are very thin, but I believe that is by design, to avoid putting your neck out of alignment. They were good to sleep on.

As to the mattress… I don’t know how I feel about it yet. It isn’t what I expected. I’m sure this is probably normal for the first experience with an all-latex mattress.

My (240 lb / 6’5") husband commented that it doesn’t feel durable… It feels too light, “flimsy” was his word. Intellectually he knows it should be quite durable, but he was put off by this sensation. (I reminded him of how solid our $400 foam mattress from Amazon felt… for the first few months, until it started falling apart. )

It certainly doesn’t help that it’s currently on a creaky metal frame (Pragma-Bed) until our Reverie arrives. The significant “give” of the mattress when you sit down + the simultaneous creaking from the metal frame calls to mind the experience of sitting down on an old, worn-out inner-spring mattress. I am very much looking forward to getting it onto the Reverie base.

The feel is much more… high-strung… than I expected. I don’t get the “cloud-like” feel I’ve seen others report. It’s too springy to be cloud-like. When I move, it moves… My husband likened it to lying on a waterbed.

If I get near the edge, it threatens to dump me off the side. Luckily it’s a big bed (Cal King), so it isn’t too hard to keep away from the edge. Not a big deal. It would be annoying if we were sharing a full-size bed like we did back in the day.

I don’t feel like I sink in very much at all. I expected it to be a bit more “cushy”. I was comfortable… I just wasn’t floating on a cloud like I had rather expected. I guess I like cushy. I am pretty sure that if I had been shopping in a store, I would have moved on to look for something more cushy. (That does not mean that would have led me to the right choice, of course… It probably would have led me to a plush pillowtop that would have disintegrated within a year.)

I’m not sure all Talalay was the best choice; I sort of wish I’d gone with their default configuration of Talalay on top & Dunlop on the bottom 2 layers. I thought the talalay would be more… cushy. Instead, it’s… jiggly. My daughter did enjoy jumping on it much more than our non-latex foam beds, until I made her knock it off. :wink:

I definitely slept cooler than I had on the memory foam, which was great.

I slept pretty well, but I can’t say I slept better than usual. I do think maybe I feel less stiffness today… but I’m not positive that isn’t wishful thinking. (It’s hard to gauge right now, as my muscles are still quite sore from a hard workout I did the other day.)

I know there’s a reason they want you to sleep on it for 30 days before exchanging anything. I know there is an adjustment period, and I still hope & expect that this mattress will be great for us. I just did not anticipate how different it would be from what we are accustomed to.

2

Hi Sekhmet,

Thanks for taking the time to share your comments and feedback … I appreciate it.

As you probably know from your research here … there will be a break in and adjustment period with any new mattress that is different from what you are used to sleeping on (see post #3 here). This is completely normal.

As you probably also know from your research here … you can’t “feel” the quality or durability of the materials in a mattress. Latex is among the highest quality and most durable materials in the industry so regardless of how anyone “feels” on a latex mattress (which is more of a preference than anything else) … it is certainly a durable choice. There is more about the many variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress in post #4 here and the posts it links to.

Your sleeping experience and how you feel on the mattress will most likely change over the course of the next few weeks as your mattress breaks in and you get used to the “feel” of a material that is different from what you are used to but of course the only way to know whether any mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) is based on your own personal experience.

I’m looking forward to any additional comments you have the chance to share once you’ve had the chance to sleep in it for a few weeks.

Phoenix

3

Over the last several nights (last night was #5), I have come to love the feel of the mattress. It is very comfortable, just soft enough to be welcoming, while remaining totally supportive. As I observed the first night, it certainly sleeps cooler than our old foam mattress. I seem to be sleeping well on it.

Also, I really like the latex pillows that came with it. They are not as “thin” as I initially felt that they were. I’m not sure whether I have just gotten used to them or if they have also done some additional adjusting/expanding since the first night.

The jury is still out for my husband, however. With his recent back troubles + his hernias, he is a tougher customer - and a FAR more sensitive sleeper than I am, besides. Of the last 5 nights, he’s been up extremely early on 2-3 of them (4am on one night), due to an inability to fall back to sleep. He is definitely sleeping worse than he had been on the old bed. He doesn’t dislike the feel of the mattress and, generally, he’s falling asleep quickly at the start of the night, but later in the night he’s really having trouble.

Yesterday he suggested that maybe he should try my side (with the soft top layer) for a night, but I said it was better to stay on his side for at least a few more days before changing anything up. He understands that it can take a couple of weeks… but that is challenging when you are really sleeping poorly in the mean time.

4

Hi Sekhmet,

Thanks for the update … I appreciate it :slight_smile:

While I would normally suggest giving a new mattress at least two weeks before making any changes … if your husband isn’t sleeping well then I can certainly understand that he may want to make some “fine tuning” changes a little bit sooner … especially if there isn’t any signs of his experience changing or improving over time.

I’m not sure of the reasons for his discomfort or the actual “symptoms” he is experiencing but there is some good information about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here.

There is also more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel”.

These posts are the “tools” that can help with the analysis, detective work, or trial and error that may be necessary to help you learn your body’s language and “translate” what your body is trying to tell you so you can make the types of changes that have the best chance of reducing or eliminating any “symptoms” you are experiencing.

If he thinks that the mattress is too firm and wants to try a softer comfort layer to provide some additional pressure relief then it would make sense to try your side for a few days (although I would encourage him to try and wait a few days longer just to see if there are any changes in his sleeping experience that he can identify). In this case I would also make sure that he tries your side for more than just one night so that he can identify more of a pattern in how it feels or how his experience changes compared to his side and make sure that any change in his experience isn’t just an anomaly. If his side is too firm then there are also some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful as well.

If the mattress is too soft (which will most often produce lower back “symptoms”) then it would make sense to exchange the middle medium layer with the bottom firm layer to provide some firmer support which may improve any alignment issues he may be experiencing.

The “best” suggestion of all though would be a more detailed conversation with SleepEZ so you can take advantage of their knowledge and experience over many years with other customers that are in similar circumstances and have experienced similar “symptoms” so that they can provide you with some guidance and insights about the type of changes that would have the best chance of success.

While I realize that it’s not always possible to wait as long as would otherwise be “ideal” … I would make changes as slowly and incrementally as possible so that his body has the chance to adjust to each change for a few nights rather than making changes too quickly or assessing the results of any changes based on only a single night’s experience.

Phoenix