It’s time to put our ten year old innerspring mattress out to pasture and I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations? We need an EXTRA firm king size. I’m hoping to only spend around $500-$800 but may be willing to spend a little more for something that will be easy on my bad back and will last several years. My issues are mainly with my upper back, neck, and shoulders; I am a side sleeper & I don’t usually have lower back issues. I’m 5’10", 190lbs. My wife is 5’1", 140lbs & is mainly a side/stomach sleeper.
I’ve never owned a memory foam mattress, but the ones that I have slept on were nowhere near firm enough to not cause me discomfort. I’m sure there may be memory foams out there that have enough firmness, but I haven’t looked hard enough to find them yet.
I like the idea of latex from what little I’ve read so far, but there are things about it (mainly the heat issues) that I’m afraid my wife would hate. As far as memory foam goes, I’ve also heard they can produce issues with…intimacy.
The first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Memory foam itself is always fairly soft (at least when it’s warm) so the firmest memory foam mattresses would have relatively thin layers of memory foam over a firmer support core.
There is more about the many factors that can affect sleeping temperature in post #2 here but latex is the most breathable and temperature regulating of all the foam materials. It is also very resilient and “lively” so most people consider it to be a good material for sex.
I think you may be mixing up latex with memory foam which tends to sleep warmer than other types of foam and which is a slow response and more “dead” feeling foam material that can take some getting used to when it comes to lovemaking (see post #2 here).
Thanks for the reply; I have spent the last couple of hours reading through the guides on the site and have learned a great deal!
I think the next step for me is to start hitting some local stores in my area. Anyone have any recommendations in the Nashville, TN area? I will also do a forum search to see what comes up.
