Mattress painfully firm, low budget... topper? or low priced matty from BB.

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
23

So how about as it turns out my memory foam topper is just lame. lol. I went into a foam store today and asked about latex, see if they could even do something for me. I told the guy my issue, and that my 3" mrm foam at home wasn’t working, he looked perplexed. then he put a piece of memory foam on the hardest bed surface they had, said it was 4lb density, omg, world of difference (not exactly pleasant for me, but sooooo different than the pos i have at home). I’m back home right now and lying on my foam again it doubled over, and i can easily feel my bed though it, so i stick my hand under the foam while i’'m lying on it, sure enough my butt is 1/4 inch from the bed even with the 3" piece doubled over. lol. My foam is a cheap pos. (Well that AND it being 3 years old. Makes sense now).

Anyway, still figuring through things, but just had to share that, thought it was kinda funny. :P. I guess i’m not the princess and the pea after all.

24

Hi Paisley,

I think that’s good news and it sounds like the memory foam topper you originally bought probably wasn’t 4 lb memory foam and was likely a lower density. It’s not unusual in my experience for some of the overstock products to be misdescribed.

Now you know that a “real” 4 lb memory foam topper will likely be OK at least you are back to having some better options because both memory foam and latex would probably work for you in the right thickness and it would just be a matter of preference between them (and I’m guessing based on your descriptions that “a fair bit to a lot” is probably in the range which would mean 3").

Phoenix

25

Totally. And plus it was 3 years ago, so it makes sense it would be totally dead now. I mean, $130, so i guess it was fair enough. :D. i’m sure great foam wouldn’t, but this clearly wasn’t. :D. Got my $130 worth though, that’s for sure.

yeah, i’m gonna go with a 3" latex topper from BB and then get the Aloe Alex later after I know a latex bed is for me, i’ve laid down on several but it’s not easy for me to figure out whether it’s something for me.

ANYWAY…Trying to figure out what topper to get. 4 days ago i did a brief chat with BB online, the guy said get a 6 (which is a 24 i guess), then yesterday we had a brief chat before the chat shut down and and the same guy said get a 19. So i’m a little confused as to which to choose. The main thing is feeling less of the matty, so of course i’m nervous that the 19 will be a problem.

What might be your thoughts? knowing i can do a comfort exchange on my topper is good b/c i can just swap either the 24 for the 19 or the 19 for the 24 but still would love to get it right on try 1.

I’m have to phone them anyway and have a talk because i’m gonna ask about an Aloe Alex build for myself as wellwhich i’m guessing will either a HDFoam/28/24, or a HD foam 24/19. But i am going back to one more bed store to see how i feel about the very soft vs. firm beds in latex, that’ll help me get a better sense of what build might be better as far as comfort. I won’t get that until later, until i feel financially it’s easier. a day or 2 ago i was ready to charge a $2k Berkley Ergonomic latex mattress (very similar to BB Total Latex) b/c of the pain i was in. But as long as i can get some relief from my topper i might be able to hold off. Good thing the guy told me that Berkley bed would take 4 weeks to be delivered! lol.

Plus after I get my topper i’ll have a very good idea of what a latex bed would feel like rather than just trying a bunch of beds in the store. Anyway, thoughts on 19 vs. 24 and what i would feel though it? Gonna order tmrw, very excited. Hopeful.

Update: Found a post here on value coils, and value coils + latex brands, cool. So now i’m looking into Restopedic and Parklane as well. ay yi yi. :D. At least Restopedic is in CT. If I can find someone to give me a ride I can check out all the CT places! A Saatva is still on the table, but i’d rather have coil + latex if i’m gonna do any sort of coil. At this point i’m ready to buy a freakin’ plane ticket to AZ, lol.

26

Hi paisley,

I would normally suggest that if you have two choices that seem roughly equal that you choose the firmer of the two but you are very petite and light and while both 24 and 19 are in the “soft” range … I would probably lean towards the 19 unless you have a preference for something slightly firmer.

It may be on the table or even on your plate but before you “eat it” … I’d make sure you read this thread.

Phoenix

27

Oh Saatva is so gone. lol.

I was looking to see what people were writing about them online, the only thing you could find was them writing about themselves! lol. Not a good sign at all.

Thanks. 19 looks good. I deserve a 19 after all this dammit!

At least i think i’ve finally narrowed things down
Want to check out Restorpedic’s Nature’s Wonder for before eliminiating coil, if i can get a friend to drive me to CT, and if so i’ll stop by CSD. If I can’t even check it out, then it’s Alex Aloe/Total Latex/Sleep EZ 9000. : ). Something like that. Getting there.

I’d love to see the Petty Grove by Parklane, but alas, too far. Pretty to look at though.

28

Let me ask you this. And i know they are 2 dif. substances and that it’s not a perfect comparison, but the HD base of an Aloe, do you know if it is very similar to the firmness of an ILD 32 latex base? or softer/harder. I know they function slightly differently and create a different feeling or something, but just want to see if my support would be the same.

also, how fast does that foam wear out vs. a latex core? i know it’s not exact, but does it last more than 10 years?

29

Hi paisley,

I don’t know the ILD of the base layer in the Aloe but they could probably tell you.

In general though … the IFD of polyfoam will be firmer than the ILD of latex because one is measured on a sample that is only 4" where 25% compression is only 1" while most latex is measured on a 6" core where 25% compression is 1.5". There are many other variables as well as you can see in post #6 here or in post #4 here.

In other words … even if the ILD was measured the same way it would only be a meaningful comparison if you happened to sink into the layer by exactly 25% and there are more factors involved in how firm a foam feels or how it performs so ILD/IFD comparisons can be somewhat misleading.

There are many factors involved in the durability of a foam which you can read in post #4 here but there is no way to attach a number to any specific foam because it depends on so many things (including the person on the mattress). In most cases a foam doesn’t “wear out” or break down completely before the mattress is replaced because the gradual loss of comfort and support will gradually take you over the threshold and outside of the range that is suitable for you even though the foam may not be “worn out” and may be fine for someone else.

Having said all that … the support layers are not usually the weak link of a mattress and they will last much longer than the same materials in the upper layers so a good quality polyfoam base (such as the 2.17 lb polyfoam used in the Aloe Alexis) would normally last 10 years or more yes (again depending to some degree on the specifics and design of the mattress) … even though the layers above are subject to more stress and may soften or break down more quickly (which is why it’s a good idea to have a more durable foam like latex or other higher quality foams in the comfort layers)

Phoenix

30

K. Ordered my topper in ILD 19 from BB. Here’s hoping. : ).

31

Hi paisley,

I hope you let us know how it works out for you :slight_smile:

Phoenix

PS: I added the durability link that I didn’t link in my last reply

32

Well that was depressing.

Got my latex topper, and had a woefully painful sleep with just that (plus my 3/4" dunlop) over the mattress. For the last 2 weeks I’ve been sleeping on my old ‘not much use anymore’ 3" visco or poly or whatever foam topper but doubled it over and it was really nice, cradled me perfectly with barely a hint of hardness underneath, just support, except obviously barely enough room for me to sleep on it.

Last night i put the ILD 19 topper on my bed (great cover btw!!) Ugh. Could feel the hard bed right underneath me. Tried to sleep, woke up throughout the night too uncomfortable to sleep, the topper offered little help. I’m gonna exchange it for the 24. I remember something about the soft ones of course getting compressed easily b/c of how soft, so basically i ended up with my body on a compressed/condensed piece of latex over a very hard bed. So alas maybe the 24 will be better. I might have to get a 4lb mem foam for underneath the latex topper if that doesn’t work, so i have a medium to sink into and not the superhard bed. Or maybe I should get the 24 and put the dying 3" poly/visc. foam thing i have over that. That might do it…maybe. i have no idea how support the 24 has to hold up against my body weight. Maybe with the 24 over the matty, the 3" dying foam over that, then the 3/4" medium dunlop latex over that, athough i doubt it cuz the old 3" foam lacks any sort of density at this point.

-Signed, soon to have a 20 inch mattress after all the toppers.

:frowning:

33

Hi paisley,

That’s unfortunate and I know that adding toppers can involve a lot of trial and error which can be frustrating but I would also strongly caution you to sleep on each new combination (no matter what change you make) for at least a week so that your body has time to “catch up” to the change and your experience is more predictive of your longer term experience on the combination. If you make changes too quickly not only does it increase the risk than symptoms you experience have a “hidden” cause that may not be part of your long term experience but you also won’t be able to accurately assess and learn from the new combination so that any choice you make after that has better odds of success.

Your best odds of success are always with slow and incremental changes that are well thought through as to their potential effect so that your odds of success are much higher.

So I don’t usually have the time to go back through a thread beyond the last few posts and try to dig out the information about what layers you are currently sleeping on so if you could post the information about all the layers that you slept on it would be helpful.

My understanding and memory is that you have your “unknown” but firm mattress on the bottom but I don’t know the exact layers or the order of the layers (including every piece of bedding) you have on top of this.

To bring your “specs” up to date (to save me searching for them each time) you are 5’2", 115lbs.

I’m not clear which position you sleep in (which one you go to sleep in and which one you wake up in would be helpful)

I also believe that besides the mattress … you now have your new 3" 19 ILD Talalay topper, a 3/4" - 1" Dunlop topper, this mattress topper cover, and a 3" 4 lb density memory foam topper. Did I miss anything (including any mattress protector and the type of sheets you are using) and which of these were you using in your last combination?

It would also be helpful to have a more complete description of the type of pain you were experiencing and where you were experiencing it because this can also provide a “pointer” to what may be happening.

With this information and your longer term experience on this combination it would be easier and probably more effective to assess what type of further changes may have the best odds of success or which change would be more helpful at least in pointing the way.

Phoenix

34

Hey, thanks. I’ll do a quick all inclusive cuz i think it rounds out a couple of other things.

I bought the “extra firm” mattress almost 4 years ago. the mattress a sales person will bring you to if you ask him for the firmest mattress in the store. It was very soon thereafter that t i bought the 3" ‘4lb density’ topper. Turns out it wasn’t quite the 4lb density but it def made my mattress very sleepable, I was suspended in the foam, even stayed quite a bit toward the top of it for probably years, but progressively it wore down…

Now the visco topper has pretty much wornout whatever ability it had to keep me at all suspended in it and now ends up squished right down and I no longer get any pressure relief from it, my circulation cuts of and my body find the extra firm mattress very painful once again. The 3/4" convoluted dunlop topper was with it for those last 4 years so it’s pretty worn as well.

Both visco+dunlop foams, although not great on their own, doubled over finally gave me the pressure relief I needed, it kept me away from the hard mattress but without itself being hard, it was soft underneath me. It could still be pushed down further even when i was on it. When I got my new topper i removed the old 3" visco competely, and only used the latex and the worn dunlop. With only those once again found myself lying on a very very firm surface right underneath me as I was once again right on top of the mattress with the 19 ild topp. The pain was the exact same pain as I get when I have the now soft visco foam underneath me not doubled over, the same pain I get every time I lie right close to the mattress, pressure. It’s not even an overnight thing, i feel it as soon as i lie on my bed, immediate pressure on my small of my back, or my hips, etc. I need something to suspend me and not send me right down to the mattress.

I’m sorta half lying down in the bed now, (with the latex and very thin worn dunlop) and I get these painful pulsing sensations on whatever part of my body is pressing on the bed. It’s been that way for a coupla months now, so it’s not new dif. type of pain, it’s the same pain. (only when i use the old visco plus dunlop doubled over do i not get that. well, don’t get it as much or as bad. i can’t remember anymore. :(. that’s sad. lol. It was so nice to lie down to. Not perfect, but not painful. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the doubling over shape didn’t help. It sort of kept it from being totally compress, and i keep wanting to sleep on the fold.

oh, for the bedding i had 1 fitted sheet over the mattrerss, 1 thin poly mattress protector somewhere, the 3" latex topper with 3/4" dunlop on that to give me less of a jiggly feeling from the smooth talalay, then the down alter cluster cover (it wasn’t tight because i didn’t zip it up but it definitely got in the way of allowing my shoulder to sink in). At the end of the night (early this morning) i put my duvet underneath me just hoping for a little better feeling.

i’m squishing the latex with my fingers right now, it certainly takes pressure to do it. i have no idea why this damn bed is still so firm.

35

Hi paisley,

Yes … it’s certainly true that some mattresses are more “objectively firm” than others but different people will experience this same mattress which is the “firmest in the store” in different ways and put it in a different part of the softness / firmness scale. There may even be some which would call this same mattress “too soft for them” even though this would be very uncommon. So the firmness itself is objective and even the firmest mattress have some softness on top … but different people will experience the degree of firmness in different ways depending on body type and sleeping style and their own sensitivities which are more subjective. It’s always the personal experience of firmness which is important to know because this takes into account each person’s unique perceptions and experiences.

This is part of the difficulty of choosing a topper because pain from pressure points in the hips when you sleep on your side (usually a comfort layer that is too thin or firm) will usually (but not always) have a very different cause from lower back pain when you sleep on your back which is usually an alignment issue (usually a comfort layer that is too thick and soft) and may have very different solutions because they may not be equivalent to each other. To make matters more confusing … a comfort layer that is too thin and firm can also cause alignment issues so some real detective work can be involved which can require some careful testing and accurate and specific feedback so that the most likely solutions can be identified.

So if I understand you correctly you have what appears to be pressure point pain in your hips when you are on your side and you appear to have lower back pain when you are on your back (which is pain that comes from alignment issues). Is this correct? Each symptom may be from a different cause and it is helpful to describe them in individual terms. It would also be helpful to describe the type and location of each type of pain or discomfort as accurately as you can and describe it as if I know nothing about what you are experiencing. It would also be helpful to describe the differences between each combination rather than just saying they are the same. More subtle differences and “nuances” can also be helpful as a pointer.

In most cases as well …a 3" 19 ILD latex layer would easily isolate someone of your weight and height from the firmness of your mattress so when it doesn’t then some careful thinking and assessment may be involved as to why your experience is different from the “norm”.

One of the possible reasons could be how your weight is distributed and your body type so it could also be helpful to know which of these you are closest to

I’m guessing that the 19 ILD was on top of the 1’ Dunlop is this correct? (DIT: realizing as I read further that it was the other way around)

Again this is somewhat unclear to me because I don’t know which position you are lying down in and where the pain is. The small of your back wouldn’t be pressing down on the bed (it’s recessed and is on of the last parts to contact the mattress so it wouldn’t be a pressure point but indicates an alignment issue). Can you be specific where the pain is happening and in which positions. (I’m guessing your hips?). Again I would assume that I know absolutely nothing each time you describe a symptom and the position it tends to happen in.

OK … for a start it would be helpful to remove everything except the Dunlop Topper and the Talalay topper and your thin protector (which is hopefully very thin and stretchy) and your sheet. Hopefully neither your protector or sheet are tight across the mattress and topper so they aren’t creating a “drum” effect. This would make a good start with less variables to try and figure out and understand about how all the different pieces are interacting. I would put the Dunlop under the Talalay as well … not over it.

Once you can report about this “minimal” combination without any other variables then it would be a good starting point and hopefully a pointer about the suitability of other combinations.

Phoenix

36

i just wanted to make it clearer about what the surface is like in case it might be helpful. But yeah, there are def. people who could in theory find my mattress too soft even though it is actually, relative to most consumer mattresses, quite firm. I just wanted to clarify what it actually is though cuz that might related to what is going on.

I’m was in sort of a lying/leaning position. the way one might if they’re reading a book in bed. I keep changing positions still parallel in the bed, just shifting slightly in that position to alleviate the discomfort, but basically i’m sitting up then my glutes hurt or hamstrings even depending on how i’m seated, b/c they have the most pressure into the mattress so i just shift onto another part of the body, then that part hurts, so when my lower back was hurting it was pressure pain, as that was pressing into the mattress, but it was more like my tailbone. If my lower glutes are pressing, those hurt, upper glutes, the same, if i’m on my side, the hip hurts. And each part feels the exact same pain when they are pressed into the bed as when other parts are pressed into a bed. any part of the body which is has the most pressure on the bed, that’s the part of the body that would feel (hot? burning? throbbing? so hard to describe… pulsing pain. And if i’m in a position that is fully lying down and the weight is more evenly distributed it takes a little longer for the pain to arrive, although the unpleasantness of the firmness is immediate.

banana.

I’ve put right now, 1 sheet over the mattess, but the corners not pulled down, so it’s loose. then my talalay, then one flat sheet over it. i’m in my lie/lean reading posistion and the part with the most pressure on the bed is pretty much my tailbone, it is experiencing quite a bit of discomfort. Underneath it feels very very firm. i scooted up to put more of my glutes on the bed and now they are experiencing the pressure. and i’m having sort of a hot burning pain. (dull burning pain? dull pain that’s feel hot? lol)

fwiw. if i go to the matty with the talalay over it and put down my hand goes down quite quickly and the is stopped abruptly.

37

Hi paisley,

When you are sitting or in other positions on a mattress that are not the same as you sleep in then it changes the pressure distribution of the body compared to lying in a sleeping position so it’s perfectly understandable that a combination like you have won’t work well for sitting or other positions or that you could feel the firmer mattress underneath if you press your hand into it (again the pressure would be much more concentrated than when you are lying down).

The goal is to find a combination that will work well for sleeping and you can’t assess how well it will work in your sleeping positions in any other way but by sleeping on it.

There would be almost no chance you would be “going through” a 3" 19" topper in your “flat” sleeping positions if you were a “bananna”. It may still need some adjusting or fine tuning but we need to keep the focus and feedback exclusively to your experience when you are sleeping on it because the rest will only confuse the picture.

Phoenix

38

lying down and sleeping gives me discomfort from the firmness, not alignment is i guess what i’m trying to say. there is no difference in the pain of sitting on the bed with the latex vs. the old visco in the same way that sleeping on it is the exact same sensation as my now to soft visco.

the pain when lying down takes longer, but than my sitting/leaning, but is the same pain. and the pain i experienced with the combo last night, vs. the more bare combo this morning gives the same feeling.

and either way, i think it’s def. related that i cannot lie-lean in bed and read without experiencing pain in minutes, and also cannot sleep without experiencing the same pain. Besides, while half-lying/half-sitting in bed i don’t expect it to be perfect but it should cuz great pain/pressure.

and i can’t imagine what situation would a person be experiencing pressure problems in a position like this in a matter of minutes
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y_UrWwd9jqo/T8o2xnTqcOI/AAAAAAAAHUs/8E3RSaJ9Kzs/s400/reading+in+bed+woman.jpg (or any of the other positions that people are in when they watch tv from bed, or read in bed, etc)
but would be fine sleeping for longer amounts of time, even with some more even distribution of weight.

i’m not going through the topper like the way i can put a hand trhough, but if i’m lying on the topper and were to take my hand and press down to where say a heavier part of my body is, i can’t push down too much further. What is under me is very condensed. I guess what i was trying to say with the comment about my hand is, pressure goes through easily and compresses the foam easily. it’s not like pushing through a denser foam where it takes some or moderate pressure.

39

so i just put all the toppers on with little inbtwn (have to have a flat sheet surround both bottom and top of the dunlop cuz it is crumbling and tearing, and have to have a sheet over the gorgeous topper cover cuz it has to stay clean) visco over mattress, dunlop over that, then talalay over that. The pressure is less. Might not be great for my alignment, lol, (although not bad! from what i can tell) but hopefully i can sleep. Lie-leaning like the photo i posted above, only with a laptop not a book. It’s clear to me i’m on a firm surface (i don’t know what is with this mattress, it is straight from hell) but the pressure pain sensation is not as great as before (still there though). I actually go down quite a bit, obviously ideally the latex would be over a more medium density thing but this is what i have.

i wish i knew what a 24 felt like and if i could handle only that over the mattress. I remember in my endless trials of latex matties every combo i liked went firm/med/soft. Firm/med was never a favorite combo (one was okay, the one by BE) but i can’t spend another 300 for the 24 and keep the 19. I don’t suppose a med/firm mem foam would be okay under the 19, would it? Cuz that is $155 at BB. (i could even get a full Lucid mem foam mattress for that much. it won’t be able to heat up under my body since latex would be on top, would it still be useful as a medium level? that would be much cheaper. I mean, not that i know for sure even how this combo will work out, but firm/med/soft would be nicer for pressure relief than soft over uber hard i think. And if i go $200 full med/firm mem foam matty underneath (something like this i guess, but maybe soething with a 4lb on top instead of a 3lb) then i could get rid of hell mattress altogether since clearly it is in pursuit of my misery.

Darn, why was my doubled over visco so squishy and comfy. what the heck.

The topper is a little off in it’s cover, it was a little shifted when it arrived, i should get it into proper position i think, as it is now it’s turning up at the sides substantial when my body is in it and a foot from the edge. Won’t make much difference but might as well.

40

Hi paisley,

If this is the case … then the odds are good that you may be dealing with a physiological or medical issue rather than a mattress issue because the pressure distribution and alignment are very different with sitting vs sleeping on a mattress. Solving a “sitting” issue would involve a different process from solving a sleeping issue.

It would be the same with dealing with your position when you are reading. If you plan to use your mattress for either reading or working on a laptop or sitting (or anything that may involve a different position from sleeping) then using an adjustable base or even something like a mattress genie under your mattress would be a much better solution. These types of “non sleeping” positions son’t provide any meaningful or helpful information about what combination of layering may be best for sleeping. None of these “non sleeping” positions would have good spinal alignment and could easily cause symptoms of discomfort or pain regardless of what was underneath you.

Again … the only way to test the suitability of a mattress topper combination is by sleeping on it … not by using your hand to press on it. This would be like going to a store and trying to buy a mattress by pressing on them with your hands instead of spending the time to actually lie on them and testing them carefully and objectively for PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences). One doesn’t relate to the other and will not predict your experience when you sleep on the mattress.

It would be much better to start with removing the visco (and all the other layers except your protector and sheet as I mentioned) so that you aren’t dealing with an “unknown” layer to start with where the degree of softening in parts of the visco and its effect on your sleeping posture isn’t known. It would also have higher odds of being too thick and soft for good alignment. Much better to start of with a “known” baseline combination and work from there … again using only feedback from your actual sleeping experience and nothing else.

Once you have done some careful and objective testing using a step by step approach with what you have available and sleeping on each combination long enough that your experience is more likely to be predictive of your longer term experience … and avoiding all the other positions you are using on your mattress (at least while you are trying to put a good sleeping surface together) … then you will be in a much better position to decide on which (if any) further changes may be necessary

Phoenix

41

i dunno. I tested probably well over 30 mattresses in the last month and on none did i experience this discomfort or pressure, even when on them for 15 minutes. well, except the super hard one i tried on topper on, that didn’t feel great.

my point was only i feel the same way with both toppers separately, both separately allow me to experience pressure from the mattress below and that the pain is exactly the same type of pain (although less with the new topper), in every position (sleeping, seating, leaning, etc) not a new different pain. but rather identical type pain which would believe me it is not all the sudden different issue. And if i were previously sleeping on my bed and my limbs were falling asleep then it’s pressure, and if i put even more pressure by a sitting/leaning position, obviously it’s going to feel worse but the sleeping issue is still pressure. Now of course they did not fall asleep last night, there is less pressure, but there is still pressure.

i was only doing that to see how much pressure it took to compress it. not for any other reason.

I’ll give it a shot, I just never heard of a comfortable mattress where people can’t watch tv from it or read in it without major discomfort. Many many many many people enjoy sleeping in their beds and enjoy reading from the same bed… Many people watch tv from bed as well without an adjustable bed. There is def. a connection btwn my not being able to sleep without pressure issues last night and any night that i didn’t have my 3" doubled over, and also feeling the same pressure when i read in bed. And infact, i was able to both sleep comfortably and read in bed comfortably when i had my 3" doubled over.

when i test mattresses, if i like it after laying on it for a while i put myself in a normal bedtime reading position and didn’t experience discomfort in the beds i liked.

But all that aside, even when i lie down on this mattress without the mattress protector and topper cover i had on last night, i still feel a very firm uncomfortable mattress underneath me, so i’m not sure the an extra 8 hours of sleeping on it would feel better.
Whereas as soon as i doubled over my 3" two weeks ago, i could lie on it and feel good, lean up and feel good, and slept well on it as well.

i do see the reason for doing the levels one at a time, this way a person can adjust correctly, adding just what they need for relief while not messing with their alignment… but It should feel comfortable even just lying on it, and since it’s not, i’m not so not sure what i’m supposed to take from 8 more hours of lying in an uncomfortable painful situation. What should i be looking for? i’m not sure how much more sleep deprivation i can take.

42

Hi paisley,

Beds are not designed for other uses or activities that involve positions other than sleeping (at least without something underneath them that can provide good support for the spine in other positions). It’s certainly true that many do this and some designs are more comfortable or even suitable for this than others but it’s also true that there are lots of people who develop back or neck issues issues when they do these types of things over a long period of time that puts ongoing stress on the back or spine (such as the reading position that you linked to). Back issues are one of the most common problems in our society and much of it involves people who don’t take good care of their back or posture issues that accumulate over time.

Your sleeping system is also not just a mattress but a topper on a very firm mattress where the two need to work together for sleeping first and then other things second. If you had the luxury of choosing a mattress that was more suitable for both (sleeping first and then perhaps other uses second) that would be different but you are restricted to the mattress you have for now and then finding the most suitable topper that will let you sleep with good pressure relief and alignment. You need to make the best of what you have because you don’t have the luxury for now of buying a whole new mattress.

Good pressure relief and good alignment (which is the biggest priority of a mattress) in all your sleeping positions (and no other positions) over the course of the night. While initial comfort is what you will typically feel when you first lie on a mattress … alignment issues are what you would typically feel when you wake up in the morning. It’s important to differentiate them and to be clear about which “symptom” happens in each position and the details of the “symptom” so your odds of a good solution are improved. In both of these the goal is to recognize patterns that point to your longer term experience rather than just one or two nights experiences which can be the result of day to day stresses and circumstances.

One small step at a time with good feedback about each combination is the most effective approach. Your sleep quality is the most important part of what a mattress is designed to provide and everything else needs to be secondary for now.

Phoenix