I’m in the neighborhood for a new mattress as my current mattress has been giving me all sorts of back issues. Every time I get out of bed, my back is stiff and it causes my gait to slant to one side. I injured my back recently and I believe this bed was a contributor. Also, the head of the bed is inclined 5-6 inches using risers (for GERD), and the mattress keeps slipping off the foundation. I feel like this bed keeps making my back progressively worse. It’s very hard in the middle and sags on the sides. It’s 6 years + a few months old.
I’m 6’4" 271 lbs and a side sleeper (occasionally back), and I also have broad shoulders. On my current mattress (Brooklyn Best Mattress Ever), it’s very challenging for me to lay perpendicular to the mattress as I usually wind up with shoulder pain.
I also need setup&removal, either optional for a fee or included w/ price of the bed.
TLDR:
6’4"
271 lbs
Side sleeper
Current mattress is Brooklyn Bedding Best Mattress Ever
Broad shoulders & has shoulder pain when sleeping perpendicular on current mattress
Lower back pain from current mattress & currently injured back
Sleep hot, prefer not to use pure memory foam, hybrid OK
Need installation and removal
Need foundation + frame
Prefer tall bed
Plan on using risers to incline head of bed 5-6"
Budget: $2500
What would you recommend?
In addition to a mattress recommendation I had 2 questions:
1- If I order a mattress online and they do not offer setup&removal, is there a service I could use that does?
2- I want to also replace my foundation (and probably also my frame), and I don’t think I can afford an adjustable frame as well as a mattress, so I’m thinking of just elevating the head of the bead with some risers as with my last bed. I’ll be looking to get a foundation that encloses the bed to prevent the slipping I got with my last one. Does that present any issues for the structural integrity of foundations/frames to your knowledge?
Thanks for sharing your specifications and preferences.
The first mattress that came to mind is the Big and Tall all latex mattress by Flobeds with their v-zoning. However, I do not know the cost off the top of my head and it’s possible it’s not within your budget nor whether or not they offer white glove service.
A number of our Trusted Members do offer white glove delivery. To my knowledge, using risers shouldn’t cause issues in terms of structural integrity but do check with whoever you purchase your base from to make sure it doesn’t void the warranty.
I think you may also find [url=Finding a great mattress outlet - The Mattress Underground]this resource[url] useful in determining a quality retailer should you choose to look at a number of bed-in-box or local options we haven’t previously vetted.
Does anyone know about the comfort and durability of the Magic Sleeper 8"Gel Memory Foam? I know they are a well-liked company, but I can’t seem to find anything on this specific mattress.
I’ve conferred with folks on /r/Mattresses as well.
I’m trying to find something close to what I have (Brooklyn Bedding BME, 6" convoluted polyfoam, 2" dunlop, 2" talalay, medium mfr firmness) that doesn’t cause me back, shoulder or hip pain.
I took a look at the Vzone, which looks great, but someone brought up in /r/mattress that zoned layers are primarily for stomach sleepers to prevent their stomach from sinking too much and may not work as well for side sleepers, does that track with what you know?
My key issues are my hips and shoulders, primarily my shoulders. I’d do memory foam but bless psoriatic arthritis, I get REALLY hot when I sleep.
I’m really eying the middle ground between DIY and standard mattresses, like SleepEz where I can customize the layers. White glove service, good warranty / good trial / good return policy are essential.
SleepEz’s mattress builder tool recommends 3" Firm Dunlop, 3" Medium Dunlop, and 3" Medium Talalay for their 10" organic mattress. I worry that the medium in this case won’t be contouring / pressure relief enough for my shoulders/hips.
I am a 140# female side sleeper. I just bought a Flobeds vZone after years of assuming that I didn’t need a zoned mattress. (That it was “overboard” for my typical build and sleep preferences…). .Well, I LOVE it. And I never sleep on my stomach. I love that it’s Talalay and I love that I can really feel my shoulder sink in. Just my two cents.
I am a novice here. I bet you’ll get some honed advice from others
I would recommend the “HYLLESTAD Pocket sprung mattress, firm/white” which is available at IKEA. It might be a little expensive but it’s worth it. I have been using it since last year. It is super comfortable and anti-dust. It has material made up of Polyurethane memory foam 50 kg/cu.m. IKEA will provide it to your doorstep with free shipping. IKEA return policy says they give 30 days of return period and a full refund.
Within 30 days you can return it anytime to you like they will come to your house and take it back. So easy.
[quote=“irongrave post=92009”]I took a look at the Vzone, which looks great, but someone brought up in /r/mattress that zoned layers are primarily for stomach sleepers to prevent their stomach from sinking too much and may not work as well for side sleepers, does that track with what you know?
My key issues are my hips and shoulders, primarily my shoulders. I’d do memory foam but bless psoriatic arthritis, I get REALLY hot when I sleep.[/quote]
Not sure who told you that but that’s quite frankly terrible advice. Zoning is basically used where you run into the limitations of what single uniform layers can do (not specific to any certain sleeping position). Each material has its own characteristics (memory foam, latex dunlop/talalay, poly foam, etc) so once you reach its limit adding more layers often makes things worse not better (ex. you take a medium bed that feels good overall but hurts your shoulder and add another soft layer on top thinking it will help and suddenly it hurts your hips/back). Zoning is a way of dealing with these material limitations on a uniform layer and instead use the material that’s best suited for each specific area of the mattress. Zoning can absolutely be a major help in dealing with issues of alignment (like side/stomach sleepers) or even pressure relief on shoulders since it allows you to bypass the limitations you’d normally have using just single uniform layers.
I personally sleep on an all talalay bed becuase at 6’2 and 250lbs with wide shoulders a smaller waist and big legs/rear I have serious issues with hammocking (side sleeping), hip rotation (back sleeping) and shoulders (side sleeping). No way I could have addressed all these issues without zoning on my mattress (I use the V-zone layer on mine). Talalay provides more conformity (travel) than dunlop at the same stiffness so since that’s my biggest issue the talalay works best for me. Now in your case it sounds like you have issues on your current mattress from lack of support (hammocking) and shoulders (not enough travel). So for larger folks it’s hard to tell if dunlop or talalay will work best but given your BMI is really close to mine I’d suggest talalay since it will help you with the mattress travel issues (hips/shoulder) you have as well. One of the best options for you would likely be the Flobeds Big & Tall mattress but it’s around double your budget (it’s a one and done solution and I’m sure it would fix all your issues while lasting 15-20 years). The SleepEZ option could work too but you’ll likely need to add a layer (make the mattress 13" instead of just 10") and do some custom zoning in the upper support layer for your shoulder to make it work (you can also buy the V-zone layer from Flobeds but it’s not cheap either). The second option is obviously cheaper but you’ll likely have to put more work into it yourself to get everythng to work well for you. Again these are just suggestions, in the end only you will know what works best for you.
Yeah unfortunately the Big & Tall is just a no go, I cannot afford that, $2500 is stretching things as it is, $5000 would be disastrous. I don’t think SleepEZ does all Talalay mattresses, sadly.
I’m struggling to find other zoned latex mattresses, never mind all Talalay mattresses.
I’m a bit averse to DIY because as I said before, white glove service+removal, good warranty/trial/return policy are essential for me. My issue is I’m recovering from a back injury and I can’t really move 40 lb layers around very easily, and it’s kind of a time crunch because every day I sleep on the mattress I have now is another day I get 5-7 hours of good sleep, so I don’t really have much time to experiment.
A few questions:
How would I do custom zoning?
The V-zone layer is surprisingly not terribly expensive ($500) given how much the whole Big & Tall bed is, but would I use that as a topper or a 2nd layer?
What is the difference between using a zoned layer in the comfort layer vs the support layer?
Custom zoning can be anything from very simple to extremely complex but say you had issues with your shoulder only, then you might cut the upper support layer at the bottom of the armpit and fill that area with a much softer layer (thereby making it soft only in the arm/head area and the rest of the bed maintains the support needed to provide good alignment). The Flobeds V-zone layer basically standardizes this process for you but it can also be done manually (which makes sense in more simple situations such as outlined above).
Sorry to say if you have a king or queen size mattress that’s only one side of the mattress, you need two of them to complete the full layer. The V-zone should be used as a support layer, not a topper.
Comfort layer is primarily what it sounds like (removes pressure points) while the support layers do what they sound like (provide support for alignment). Yes all the layers work together but this should give you an idea of how the layers interact and their primary function inside the mattress.
I would definitely talk with SleepEZ to explain your situation and see if they can help. Again I’d probably go with at least a 13" mattress for you to allow good support and if you need a V-zone later you have enough height to add it. I’d probably go with X-firm D, Firm D, Med D, Med T but talk with them and see what makes the most sense for you. If that works well for your the rest of your body but you still have shoulder issues you can just do the simple zoning like I mentioned above to help fix it.
Thanks, I think I’ll probably go with your recommendation. I appreciate it.
One more for ya – I need to incline my bed due to GERD. Presently I use a bog standard metal frame and the generic 5-6" risers you can get from Amazon, which are fine… but this has resulted in my current mattress frequently slipping off its foundation and me having to heave it back into position. Not ideal with a back injury.
Any ideas how I can resolve? I’m OK replacing the frame with something else and paying a bit more for that, the inclination is extremely important.
I don’t have the exact pricing for NT from SleepEZ, but I know that they would give you a custom quote if you send a chat online.
Did you notice that Flobeds are 22% off right now? So you would save over $800 on a Queen. Plus the 5% MUG discount (if you can combine).
Having a comfy bed is so important! Good luck on your journey.
