Over the last couple of weeks I’ve spent many hours reading articles and forum posts on this site, and it’s been SO helpful! I think I’m finally getting close to finding the right mattress, but I need some help now that I have a better understanding of what I need.
Personal stats:
- [li]Me: Female, 5’11", 200lbs, side sleeper, wide hips and shoulders, narrower waist/rib cage. My shoulders are just a little bit wider than my hips
- Husband: 5’10", 135lbs, 75% back sleeper, 25% stomach or side
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Background:
We are currently sleeping on a 10 year old innerspring mattress and traditional box spring with a 3 year old 3" talalay latex topper
I have a problematic left shoulder. I did physical therapy for it in 2015, and for a long time I was able to stay pain free as long as I did my PT exercises. Last spring it started hurting again, in a slightly different way than it hurt before. I was thinking I needed to go back and see my PT after the pandemic.
Last November, my husband and I stayed at an Airbnb and slept on a different mattress for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. At first I thought it was too firm, but it was memory foam, and after I sank down I found it relieved my shoulder pressure and was really comfy, even though I’m not a huge fan of the “getting stuck” feeling of memory foam. After 3 nights on that mattress, my shoulder pain was gone! Turns out I didn’t need a physical therapist, I needed a new bed. That particular mattress was too firm for my husband, though.
Where I’m at now:
Now that my husband and I are both vaccinated, we are mattress shopping. The first thing I did was message the Airbnb host to find out what kind of mattress we slept on there, just to get a baseline. It was Wayfair Sleep 12" Medium Firm Memory Foam Mattress. There’s not a lot of info on the site, but I did learn that it’s a 3 zone mattress.
We did some mattress testing at Macy’s Home Furniture on Saturday, and learned we both prefer a softer, plusher comfort layer. The most difficult thing to find was spinal alignment for me. The only mattress that had my spine in a straight line was the Casper Nova Hybrid. Interestingly, this is also a zone mattress. I read on this site that Casper mattresses don’t hold up well for people over 200lbs, though, and I really want a durable mattress that will last us a while.
On Sunday we visited the Savvy Rest store. The sales rep was great and had us try a bunch of different combinations of layers. The winning combo for both of us was:
- Soft talalay
- Soft dunlop
- Medium dunlop
- Firm dunlop
The sales rep said we could even use our existing talalay topper in place of the top layer, so we’d only need to buy the three dunlop layers.
This addressed both of our preferences and pressure points and posture for my husband. My spine, however, wasn’t straight on any of the latex combinations. The combo above was one of the better ones- my spine was straight from my hips through my lumbar, but the vertebrae between my shoulders were 1.5"-2" higher. The mattress still seemed comfy, but it seems like 2" might be a lot out of alignment?
I think I may need a mattress that’s softer under my shoulders in order to get my spine aligned. I think subbing out the medium dunlop for soft dunlop under the shoulders on my side might make it soft enough, but I’m not 100% certain.
What’s the best way to get a 2 zone latex mattress? I was thinking I could order the Savvy Rest mattresses we liked, cut out part of the medium dunlop and replace it with some soft dunlop, but that would probably interfere with the exchange policy and warranty. I see FloBed offers a 7 zone mattress, but it’s 3 layers and not 4, and I can’t tell how it would compare to what we know we already like. Plus, my husband doesn’t need zoning on his side.
What’s the best way for me to get a zoned latex mattress that will work for me?