Hi MattressNewb2024,
Glad to have you, Happy New Year and nice of you to be a long time reader.
My first question is what pillow are you using?
When you sleep on your side, you are probably getting the contouring and pressure relief you prefer and enjoy due to the natural curves to human body. Since you are tall and thin, BMI is fairly low.
There really should not be much of an issue when you roll to your back, although, I am a strong believer (remember everyone is different, so the classic rules dont always apply) that a back sleeper will prefer a firmer flatter surface, especially someone who is not bottom or top heavy.
Clearly this option below, is not an option that I thought was available.
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My first attempt at a solution here would be to switch the top and middle layers. Literally, just flip them. When gravity is pulling us down and we are on our sides, you would naturally expect shoulders and hips to depress more and the softness of the 2" dunlop will accommodate for that. Leaving the bottom for the support and middle for support and additional contouring.
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If you move the middle to the top and top to the middle, the middle layer despite being softer now, will still be supported by the bottom, and hopfully the new medium firm as the top layer will support your back better than the previous soft layer that was on top.
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My only issue with this set up is, how long will it last! I would suggest that while it will probably work initially, gravity always wins. Your shoulder and hips may cause the *now new middle layer to break down a bit faster and cause a dip in the top layer.
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This configuration is just to test what will make your back sleeping more comfortable. If it works, I would stick with the firm support layer and two medium layers, perhaps with the top layer at 3" in order to create a surface that will be more friendly to the side sleeping.
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Now you could try removing the 2" layer altogether as a trial, and go with the firm support and medium comfort and see how that feels although that might come in a bit firm.
Keep in mind that falling asleep on your side may only encompass a 15-20 minute span of time, so the Medium, Medium Firm (support) just may work as you are not spending that much time on your side.
I know the yoga mat thing may seem OK temporarily, but I view it as anecdotal, you are not sleeping on it an entire night.
The other question I have is, why is this system directly on the floor? Reason being, you ’ want to develop mold under your mattress (nothing to do with support issues, although the floor will create the firmest version of your system). Perhaps using something under the system like Hypervent or Hypur Flo Moisture protection
I think your last suggestion of the 3" firm under the 3" soft will be too soft for your back sleeping. Most folks prefer a firmer surface when sleeping on their back, so I am not so certain that will work as it may prove to be too soft.
Back to the pillow. You may want to consider a pillow like the Tempurpedic Symphony TP Symphony. It doesn’t have to be tempurpedic specifically, but I like the idea of a two sided pillow, one side with a little more loft for side sleeping and the other side having a flat low loft for back sleeping.
Hopefully, you now have a plan in place and a direction to move towards.
Look forward to getting some feedback after you try!
Norm
*I just noticed on the SoL site, they are only using pre built systems.
Their Medium is a 4" Firm, 2" Medium and 2" soft.
Their Firm is 6" Firm and 2" Medium.
The concept is still the same. The route to get there is just a bit different.
Those SoL layers are not interchangeable. So we have to recreate the plan.
Adding a medium topper to their medium mattress system, will offer a similar effect as I described initially, but I still have the issue with the soft top comfort layer not being supportive enough for the long haul, with a medium topper on top of it. Although, the one thing you have in your favor here is your lower BMI, so there will be less wear and tear into the mattress.
If you were to switch to their firm mattress version and add a 3" medium topper, it may provide the firmness you need for your “sleeping on your back”, and the side pressure relief needed for the side sleeping.
Sorry for the confusion. I mistook that their layers could be changed.
While sleep on latex is a fine company, @Arizona_Premium can build you a mattress with changeable layers should you experience issues where swapping a layer may solve a problem, plus they offer Talalay latex options too. Talalay is a bit more uniform in density throughout its respective layer. So the support factor (ILD rating at 25% vs 65% depression into the tested slab layer of latex) of Talalay is a bit less than that of Dunlop. The deeper you depress into the Talalay, the less firm it will feel as compared to the Dunlop, the difference is marginal, but may be enough to satisfy both the side start and the back sleep finish.