I am back into the mattress shopping rabbit hole and was hoping for some advice or recommendations from the mattress oracles at TMU.
My history: I am a side/back sleeper and I’ve slept on different innerspring mattresses until 2024 when I bought a queen sleeponlatex medium. Unfortunately, I never slept well on it, even with their 3inch soft topper. It felt too firm, so I returned it and kept the topper. I went back to my full innerspring for awhile (without the SOL topper because of mismatching size) until one night I couldn’t sleep. I went ahead and folded my 3 inch SOL topper in half and threw it on my couch.
I’ve slept on that couch setup now for 6 months or so and sleep pretty well. I don’t wake up with pain and generally sleep through the night. Rarely, I’ll have heat retention issues that wake me up, but I think that’s more of a combination of low quality bedding and my ramshackle sleep set up (I have a cozypure bedding set that I love, but not using right now because it doesn’t fit the setup)
I didn’t intend to go this long between my SOL and my next mattress, but you know, life happens.
I have been looking into either a new memory foam or latex mattress (or a hybrid maybe?). My conclusions I’ve come to are that:
- I like the idea of memory foam, but I am turned off by heat retention, durability (short lifetime before sinking spots), and general alignment / support. I’ve read many personal accounts on here and elsewhere that memory foam feels great when you first lay on it for the night, but it’s not uncommon to wake up after a few hours or the next day with pain, whether that be from the inability to switch positions, or waking often from overheating.
- I like the idea of latex for it’s durability and a more natural sleeping material. The idea that memory foam is notorious for off gassing, often much longer than the initial break-in period, is unpleasant. The issue with latex is it’s a very different feel. Like I said, I slept on the SOL medium dunlop and it was too firm for me. If I did try another latex mattress, I assume it’s best to try a talalay or talalay hybrid? I like the idea of the cradling of memory foam feeling and sleeping in a cloud, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect latex to ever really feel like that, right?
Is there a mattress type I should look into that fits the durable cool latex but also soft and cradling support like memory foam? I like the idea of laying down and feeling immediately comfortable.
At this point I feel like I am rambling, so I’ll end it here. If there’s anything I can clarify, please ask away. Thanks so much for any thoughts or guidance.