I am a long time lurker here, and I am finally getting around to making my first post. I first found this site 2+ years ago and I have been attentively following along since. What an amazing resource. I have spent many many hours reading and researching here. The time here has been well spent, helping me to avoid many potential costly blunders along the way. How refreshing to finally approach mattress shopping/research in a straightforward logical way that for the most part doesn’t leave you frustrated/angry.
I am in the sleep medicine profession, and for years I have been asked questions like I see posted here everyday… What is the best mattress? Which mattress should I get? Which mattress will help with my back pain… etc, etc, etc. Up until I found this website, I had always adamantly refused to give any advice/recommendations concerning ANY mattress for ANYone. For the longest time, after some bad personal experiences, I felt that all mattress companies/retailers were inherently evil… Now I know that only some of them are… Now, when my patients ask me about mattresses I hand them a sheet of paper with “www.themattressunderground.com” written on it. It feels great to offer good useable advice, and I know that I am empowering someone to make a purchase that should not be taken lightly/made rashly.
Recently, I have begun my own mattress search and am currently looking at either Custom Sleep Design or Sleep-EZ. I have ordered a latex sample from CSD, and I have spoken to Bob on the phone. I will speak to him again once I have had a chance to evaluate the sample. I had considered Contacting Fox mattress to discuss the possibility of custom making a flip-able latex mattress, but I really like the customization options provided by CSD or Sleep-EZ. I will keep you posted on the mattress search and will provide a review of whichever mattress I choose.
I would like to commend Phoenix for this wonderful site, and his dedication to rising above the murk and deceit that shrouds the mattress industry.
Thanks for the kind words … it means a lot to me when I see that the site is helping people both directly and indirectly through others!
You must have been one of the first people to find the site when I first launched it a little over two years ago. I still remember when I would sometimes wait days for someone to post on the forum and now over 18,000 posts later it seems like a lifetime ago
You are certainly looking at some great choices and talking to people who I have come to know and respect over the years I’ve known them.
I think that sleep medicine is one of the most fascinating and perhaps under appreciated specialties of the medical profession and in many ways one of the least understood as well. I find it fascinating as new discoveries are made about the relationship between health and sleep and some of the many discoveries that are being made in terms of sleep quality and the many conditions and circumstances that can prevent it. Some of the more consciousness related studies and research that are very connected with sleep are also of great interest to me.
I think that if I was starting all over again and was much younger this would be an area that I would seriously consider pursuing on a more professional level.
I’m looking forward to finding out what you end up choosing and of course any comments or feedback you choose to share along the way.
Thanks again for your post and taking the time to share your thoughts!
I first became interested in Sleep Medicine years ago, because to me, it is fascinating that we know so little about something we spend half our lives doing. Yet sleep is integral into every aspect of human life and development. Sleep is hardwired into our brains with multiple redundant pathways. A general rule of thumb when dealing with human physiology is that the number of redundant pathways in the body is a clue as to its overall importance.
I have had the privilege of studying/researching with some of the greats in the world, and we learn more and more every day. Among other things, I have helped publish some of the literature on obesity and sleep and the relationships between the two. It has been incredible to participate in a medical field that is in its infancy. We have really been making strides over the past several decades.
I agree with you that sleep in general is undervalued and sleep medicine underappreciated. Everything revolves around sleep, yet the vast majority of people maintain a significant sleep debt, and the first corner cut is to shave off sleep time. Many medical professionals shy away from discussing sleep issues with their patients, and there is much much more to sleep medicine than sleep apnea. One of the reasons is overall lack of training, but another major driving factor is the time commitment involved. To discuss sleep issues with patients requires more time than most providers are able/willing to allocate for a routine office visit.
Sorry… I could go on and on… It’s a passion… HaHa!
In other news… I received my sample from Custom Sleep Design in the form of a travel pillow. It is comfortable, and in its own zippered pillowcase. My next step will be to get back in touch with Bob to discuss my mattress profile and begin building a custom mattress. I’ll post back when I get specs and a price estimate. A nice touch from CSD is that if you end up purchasing the mattress then they refund the cost of the sample/travel pillow. I hope this is useful information.
I think we have one thing in common which is the ability to go “on and on” about subjects we are passionate about … and the “mysteries of sleep” and its effect and interaction with our waking life is certainly one of them that has been of great interest to me for many decades :).
I have also done a fair bit of experimenting with different sleep scheduling and some of its effects (such as split sleep schedules) and working with binaural beats to alter the rhythms or durations of REM and other stages of sleep among other more empirical sleep related studies or experimentation that I have explored over the years.
All the feedback from the members here is another piece of useful information that can certainly help others and I’m looking forward to your ongoing feedback and finding out the specifics of what you end up purchasing.
If this wasn’t a mattress forum this post could easily have been much longer
