I don't get it, why is my foam cushion sofa more comfortable than my new Latex mattress? Help!

[phoenix]

Hi gme109,

The first 5 minutes lying on my back feels fine, but then I start to feel uncomfortable pressure points on my shoulder blades and gluteus. If I try lying on my side, my shoulder starts to hurt, and my arm goes to sleep. When ordering my mattress, Sleep EZ recommended I go with split layers of: Extra firm, firm, medium, soft, based on my height and weight. I’m 5’ 8" and a muscular 165. What’s weird is, when I wakeup in the morning, I’m not feeling the pressure points. Also as noted in my subject line, I don’t feel any uncomfortable pressure points while lying on my foam cushion sofa.

I can’t feel what you feel and I don’t know the specifics of the materials in your couch so there isn’t a way for someone to “diagnose” the reasons for your symptoms or how your couch compares with your mattress with any certainty outside of some trial and error and detective work that involves testing different layers to see how they affect you but your couch is most likely firmer than your mattress (it’s designed to support the more concentrated weight of sitting) and the symptoms you are experiencing on your back may be from alignment issues that involve some tight muscles and/or ligaments being stretched out of the alignment that they are used to.

Post #2 here has more information about the more common symptoms that people may experience on a mattress and some of the most likely reasons for them that may be helpful with some of the “detective work” that may be necessary and there are also some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful as well.

Does latex generally take time to break in, or have I just not adjusted to my new mattress yet? I figured I give it 4 weeks, before rearranging the layers. But the mattress does feel plenty soft as it is. Not sure what my next move is.

There will be an initial break in period and adjustment period for any new mattress that can take anywhere from a few days to a few months (depending on the mattress and the physiology of the person and on how different your new mattress is from your old one) but if you are waking up in the morning “symptom free” (when your muscles have had the chance to stretch and relax over the course of the night) then it’s quite possible that you are still adjusting to your new mattress and you may just need more time.

You can also try “firming up” your comfort layer by exchanging the soft layer for the medium layer in your mattress to see how this affects you. You can also “firm up” the deeper support of your mattress by exchanging the firm layer with the medium layer to see how this affects you as well.

Either way though … the first suggestion I would make (outside of time) is to talk with SleepEZ so they can provide you with some suggestions based on their many years of experience as well.

Phoenix