Hi Phoenix, I have always used a mattress pad on all my mattresses, I always thought it was necessary to protect the mattress. As for my platform bed, it is considerably higher than the store bed. Mine is a storage bed with drawers resting in the base & a solid piece of wood resting on that base. I am eventually going to replace it, but I thought to make the mattress purchase firstā¦ I will remove the pad & replace it with some kind of protector. Thanks again for your insight & I will update you on any differences I find with these changes.
Hi Loiroi,
A mattress protector is important to protect your mattress from stains and the body fluids, skin cells, and oils that we release each night, to protect against spills and accidents, and to keep your sleeping surface in a clean and hygienic condition. It will also protect your warranty because most mattress warranties are usually voided with any type of stain on a mattress. They can be easily removed for washing and are usually designed to have the least possible effect on the feel and performance of the mattress itself.
A mattress pad is generally thicker than most mattress protectors and can have a more significant effect on the feel and performance of a mattress. While there is some overlap between them ā¦ there is more about mattress protectors and mattress pads and mattress toppers (which are thicker yet) in post #10 here.
It sounds like your base would be similar to using your mattress on the floor so itās unlikely that it would be the cause of any issues you may have with a foam mattress.
The height of a platform bed or support system is just a preference choice and will make no difference to how a mattress feels.
Phoenix
Zexpress, are you still sleeping on the Nest Hybrid? I read through your posts and it looks like youāre having similar experiences to me. Iām also a side sleeper. I tried the BB BME in soft and it did not work. Iām trying a Bear now and I think it is too firm. Iāve been sleeping on the Bear for almost 30 days and my shoulder pain is getting worse every night. I think that means that the mattress is too firm. I;m considering the Alexander Signature Select in medium. Iāve also looked at the Luxi website and that looks interesting. Iām frustrated.
I am still sleeping on it. I am pretty much right at my 30 day point now. I donāt love the hyrbrid but I donāt hate it either. It doesnāt sleep as hot as it did when I first got it so many I adjusted although it still doesnāt sleep as cool as many other mattresses I have slept on. I think at least for me the main problem isnāt even that itās too soft as much as the top quilted layer with the deep indents are driving me nuts. Itās such a terrible design decision. Also Nest still wonāt post my mostly positive 4 star review on their site so that is also factoring into my decision to likely return.
I was going to consider the Bear next. Is your only major complaint the firmness or are there other issues too? I really do love the edge support of the hybrid which was something sorely lacking in the BBME, how does the Bear compare?
I think the Bear is a well constructed mattress and the customer support at Bear is very good. They are very responsive to questions. The edges look rounded like other foam mattresses that I am familiar with. The edge support is fine as far as I can tell. The mattress does not sleep hot in my opinion. My first few nights on the Bear were fine, but for the last week Iāve been waking up every night with shoulder pain and upper back pain. This pain has gotten gradually worse over the last 3 weeks. After trying a few mattresses and reading the Mattress Tutorial on this site a few times, Iām thinking that the shoulder pain is a pressure point issue and is caused by the mattress being too firm. I tried 2 mattresses that were too soft and caused my arms to fall asleep and go numb in addition to lower back pain. It seems there is a fine line between too soft and too firm for side sleepers perhaps?
The mattress that worked best for me was my old TempurCloud Supreme. We moved that to the guest room when my husband and I moved and upgraded to a King Split bed with Twin XL mattressesā¦ My husband is using a Dreamfoam Ultimate Dreams Gel 13" mattress and really likes it. I returned mine because it was too soft and caused my arms to fall asleep and go numb repeatedly throughout the night. So I am on my third mattress now and not happy. The Bear worked best for me of the 3. I still really want to love it, but Iām not loving the shoulder pain!.
When I ordered the Bear I also considered the Leesa. I went with the Bear because it was advertised to be good for athletes and I am a tennis player and active person.
Zexpress, what made you pick the Alexander Hybrid over the Alexander Signature? Iām about ready to pull the trigger on an Alexander Signature Select medium.
I did as was suggested at the Nest Bedding store & removed my mattress pad & replaced it with a Luna mattress protector, which I found suggested in the forums here. I believe this has made somewhat of a difference with the softness issue, though I still find some neck & shoulder issues upon awakening. However, in fairness to Nest, this could be a pillow issue as I recently switched to a memory foam issue. However, Iām still on the fence regarding the hybrid & still bothered by the welting issue which although cosmetic bothers me.
Abbygrant, from my visit to the store, the signature as well as their Love mattress were definitely firmer than the hybrid, though I did find the hybrid the most comfortable out of the three. The edge support on the hybrid still seems the best. I see you too tried the BBB ME like zexpress, do you think if you had ordered a medium firmness, your experience would have been better? Iām considering that as an alternative to the hybrid.
[quote=āLoiroiā post=61327]I did as was suggested at the Nest Bedding store & removed my mattress pad & replaced it with a Luna mattress protector, which I found suggested in the forums here. I believe this has made somewhat of a difference with the softness issue, though I still find some neck & shoulder issues upon awakening. However, in fairness to Nest, this could be a pillow issue as I recently switched to a memory foam issue. However, Iām still on the fence regarding the hybrid & still bothered by the welting issue which although cosmetic bothers me.
Abbygrant, from my visit to the store, the signature as well as their Love mattress were definitely firmer than the hybrid, though I did find the hybrid the most comfortable out of the three. The edge support on the hybrid still seems the best. I see you too tried the BBB ME like zexpress, do you think if you had ordered a medium firmness, your experience would have been better? Iām considering that as an alternative to the hybrid.[/quote]
I ordered the BBBME soft. I did an online chat with their customer support and explained that I wanted something similar to my TempurCloud. They suggested the soft would be most similar, but in reality it was much softer. I tried it for over 30 days and woke up repeatedly with my arms asleep and numb. I thought that firmness caused this, but now I realize that this was too soft. In hindsight and after reviewing info on this website I decided that the BBBME medium may have worked for me, But I donāt want to try one since I used my trial for the soft. This is just my experience, so others could be different.
Thanks for your insight, Abbygrant. I had initially called BBME & they had suggested a medium based on my sleep preference, as a side sleeper who sleeps close to the edge. But because there seemed to be edge support complaints, I went with the hybrid instead. I still feel thatās the best thing about the hybrid, but still wondering if something else would suit me better.
Amoney805, how are you liking the Alexander Hybrid now?
Zexpress, How doe the Alexander Hybrid compare to the BBBME soft, other than better edge support? I read some more reviews of the Alexander Signature and Alexander Hybrid and Iām finding a lot of very positive comments on the Hybrid.
Hi abbygrant,
This topic is starting to drift off topic but I thought Iād make a few comments about some of your more recent posts.
While itās not possible to ādiagnoseā mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of ācomfortā and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or any āsymptomsā they experience ā¦ there is more about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here that may be helpful.
Itās certainly possible that your shoulder issues could be related to your pillow as well and there are some specific comments in the post I linked about shoulder issues.
There may be a fine line for some people that are closer to the āprincess and the peaā than the āI can sleep on anythingā end of the range but for others there may be a much wider range of mattresses and firmness ranges that would work well for them. Each person is different.
I would also keep in mind that there are no āstandardā definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like āmediumā for someone else or even āsoftā for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they ārateā a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.
While other peopleās comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful ā¦ I would also keep in mind that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using other peopleās experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful. A mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words ā¦ reviews in general wonāt tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or āvalueā of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Latex and memory foam are very different materials with very different properties. There is more about the differences between them in post #2 here but comparing the firmness or āfeelā of a latex mattress to a memory foam mattress can be something like trying to decide which type of apple is closest to an orange because they will all be different from each other. Again ā¦ different people can also have very different opinions about how two mattresses compare because firmness/softness is always relative to the person and there are different ātypesā of softness that different people may be sensitive to.
If the Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme worked well for you then it would probably make sense to look at mattresses that were similar to the Cloud Supreme rather than looking at other types of mattresses with different combinations of foam materials. The Alexander Select medium would be one of several online mattresses that are described as being similar to the Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme that would be well worth considering.
There is no such thing as a mattress that is āgood for athletesā ā¦ only a mattress that is good for a specific person (regardless of whether they are an athlete or not). Celiant does have some testing that indicates that it can help with rest and recovery but the specifics of a cover are much less important than whether a mattress āas a wholeā is a good āmatchā for you in terms of ācomfortā, firmness, and PPP and I would put a much greater emphasis on the other materials in a mattress than I would on the cover.
Phoenix
Hi zexpress,
The edge support in your BME was probably related more to the firmness level you chose (soft) than to the mattress itself.
Most foam mattresses donāt have or even really need side support if they have a support core that is firm enough and the comfort layers arenāt too thick and/or soft for the person sleeping on it. Having said that ā¦ there are exceptions to every rule and there is more information about edge support and foam mattresses in post #3 here and in post #33 here. With a foam mattress that is a suitable firmness level relative to the person sleeping on it (both in the support core and the comfort layers) then it normally wouldnāt be a significant issue for most people unless you often sleep or sit with most of your weight concentrated on the very outside edge of the mattress although the outside edges of a foam mattress would generally be softer than an innerspring mattress that has a specific edge support system.
The only way to know for certain whether the edges of a foam mattress will be suitable for your specific body type and sleeping style or your preferences will be based on testing the mattress in person (or a mattress that is fairly similar) before a purchase or by actually sleeping on it (if you canāt test it in person before a purchase) and of course if you are uncertain whether you are one of the few that may āneedā or prefer firmer edge support then a good return/exchange policy may be a more important part of your personal value equation just in case the edges arenāt firm enough for you (regardless of whether they are firm enough for anyone else).
Phoenix
The hybrid has much better support than the soft BBME which makes sense. They have very different feels though and would have a hard time comparing them since the latex vs memory foam make it a hard comparison. I will say the hybrid doesnāt feel anything like a traditional memory foam mattress so if you liked the feel of a tempurpedic youāre not going to get that with the hybrid. You might want to consider the NovosBed. It is another memory foam mattress and they have different comfort levels including the ability to soften or firm the mattress after you receive it to make it more comfortable.
Hi
I am interested in your post you wrote that you were waking up w arms falling asleep . That has been happening to me almost every night since I got my Satvaa luxury firm mattress ! Crazy ! Has happened like 2x in my life and now every night for past 2 weeks ! The Satvaa guy online told me usually happens from too firm , but you said & I agree I think too soft. Mine is not too firm and pillow top makes it soft as well. How did You find it its happens due to a too soft mattress ? Iāve been hunting all over Internet for a cause before I return a little afraid to get their firm one but may have to try ! Any help would be so appreciated!
Thank you
[quote=āMeri831ā post=61350]Hi
I am interested in your post you wrote that you were waking up w arms falling asleep . That has been happening to me almost every night since I got my Satvaa luxury firm mattress ! Crazy ! Has happened like 2x in my life and now every night for past 2 weeks ! The Satvaa guy online told me usually happens from too firm , but you said & I agree I think too soft. Mine is not too firm and pillow top makes it soft as well. How did You find it its happens due to a too soft mattress ? Iāve been hunting all over Internet for a cause before I return a little afraid to get their firm one but may have to try ! Any help would be so appreciated!
Thank you[/quote]
I have had this issue a lot when the mattress it too firm, never when its too soft. This happens to me a lot at hotels with really firm mattresses and I get around it by sleeping in a side/stomach position with a pillow sorta propping me up a bit. Definitely have not experienced it on the BBBME or Hybrid. For me when a mattress is too soft I have pain in my lower back.
Now of course everyone is different in weight and body type so of course I imagine its possible for someone to have this happen for other reasons but in my experience it has always been the reverse.
Abby based on what you have described in terms of the mattresses youāve liked and not liked you probably just donāt like the feel of latex and want something more like the Tempurpedic kinda feel which is unlike most of the mattress in a box mattresses. The Hybrid is going to sleep a lot more like a regular mattress then a memory foam one, at least based on my experience over the past month. I would definitely say check out NovosBed. Apparently they are a member of this site and while theirs is a mattress in a box like the others they give you the ability to adjust the firmness after the fact with a zip on topper. This way you can get a medium and if end up wanting it softer they will send you a free topper that you can then zip on to soften the top layer.
Hi Meri831,
As zexpress and āthe Saatva guyā mentioned ā¦ the most common reason would be a mattress that is too firm but itās certainly not the only reason for the āsymptomsā you are describing because it can also be a result of your sleeping position and it could also be a pillow issue as well.
Did you read the comments at the beginning of this post (and the post it linked to about mattress "symptoms)?
There is more information about Saatva mattresses along with some of the other simplified choice online mattresses in post #2 here and in post #1 here and the rest of the topic and a forum search on Saatva (you can just click the link) will bring up more comments and feedback about them as well.
While itās not possible to predict how any mattress will feel for someone else with any certainty because there are too many unknowns, variables, and individual preferences involved ā¦ there are certainly other āsimplified choiceā mattresses that use better quality and more durable materials and I would also be cautious about buying any mattress based on the āmarketing informationā that is on their website.
If you are looking at online options then outside of the simplified choice list the mattress shopping tutorial also includes several links to lists of many of the better online options Iām aware of (in the optional online step) that include many different types and categories of mattresses in a wide range of budgets and firmness levels that would be well worth considering.
Phoenix
ADMIN NOTE: This was originally a reply to this post but was split into itās own topic because it was outside the scope of the original topic it was posted in.
[quote=āMeri831ā post=61350]Hi
I am interested in your post you wrote that you were waking up w arms falling asleep . That has been happening to me almost every night since I got my Satvaa luxury firm mattress ! Crazy ! Has happened like 2x in my life and now every night for past 2 weeks ! The Satvaa guy online told me usually happens from too firm , but you said & I agree I think too soft. Mine is not too firm and pillow top makes it soft as well. How did You find it its happens due to a too soft mattress ? Iāve been hunting all over Internet for a cause before I return a little afraid to get their firm one but may have to try ! Any help would be so appreciated!
Thank you[/quote]
Like Phoenix and Zexpress said, everyone is different. When I sleep on an innerspring mattress (like visiting my Mom or sleeping in an hotel) , I always wake up with aching shoulders and upper back. It feels like my shoulders are being pressed together by a giant vise-grip. But my arms almost never went to sleep and became numb on those mattresses, and they are not falling asleep now on the Bear mattress. I donāt know why. I believe that those mattresses are too firm for me and are causing the shoulder aches and pains but for whatever reason my arms donāt fall asleep. I do sleep on my side and sleep with my arms around a latex foam pillow and keep another pillow between my knees. I had to learn to sleep like this when I had a herniated disc in my neck. I slept on a water pillow for years, but recently switched to a Nest Bedding Easy Breather pillow. This Nest pillow seems to be working well for me so I donāt think my pillow is the problem. I switched from the water pillow because it was really heavy, itās hard to get the right amount of water in it, and I was always worried that it may leak water onto my foam bed and ruin itā¦
I tried 2 very soft mattresses and woke up several times during the night with my arms asleep and numb. It was not the same as my painful achy shoulders from the firm mattresses. So I came to the conclusion that something about the soft mattresses was causing this, but I wasnāt sure why. I thought that it was something about me that did not work with a soft ,mattress.
I was strongly considering an Alexander Signature because they claim to be very similar to the TempurCloud Supreme, which was my old bed and I loved it. But I stumbled on the Novosbed and ended up ordering one of those today. Many online reviews said it was dense memory foam most similar to Tempurpedic. I did a lengthy online chat with Gaille at Novosbed, and she said that perhaps the arms falling asleep and numbness on the soft beds were caused by my shoulders sinking right through the soft top layer and resting on the firmer support layer, which must be too firm for me. Perhaps this is correct.
Anyway, I am very anxious to get my new Novosbed. I will sadly return the Bear. (Sadly because I wanted to love it,) Until I get my Novosbed I will sleep in the guest room on my old TempurCloud Supreme. My husband gets the master bedroom with the TV all to himself for a few days. 
Congrats on the new purchase eager to hear how it works out for youā¦ It definitely sounds like from what you have liked in the past that this might be more along the lines of what you are wanting. I am now 30 days in with my Hyrbrid so will probably make a decision on what to try next relatively soon. I have always enjoyed the feel of memory foam mattresses but as a hot sleeper I have always been cautious. Looking forward to your opinions. Which model did you go with? The medium?
Iām still enjoying it, although I recently added a mattress protector and it made the mattresses noticibly firmer. Prior to that it was a medium soft. Now id say itās firmness is medium.
Thank u so much for getting back to me. I certainly donāt remember when I was younger that buying a mattress was such a huge production !
I am going to look at the links u told me about. I am mostly a stomach sleeper and I weigh 102 lbs. I had a v flat pillow almost my whole life (same pillow since I had my son who is 30! Now and last year I bought an āIndulgence Isotonicā and I love it was v surprised. I seem to be the princess and the pea with mattress , but will continue my search. Thanks again