Off to a rocky start in search for new mattress

[phoenix]

Hi sancor,

Welcome … and I’m glad you found us :).

After seeing the difference the change in pillows made, I started reading up on mattresses and realized that it was absolutely NOT normal for me to be waking up with pain (specifically shoulder pain) every single day. I would be woken up by the pain, and began to wonder if that could explain why I’m always feeling exhausted.

If you are waking up with pain during the course of the night then it could certainly explain exhaustion in the morning and over the course of the day. While a suitable mattress and pillow won’t solve any medical or physiological issues that could be the cause of your shoulder pain they could still make “some” difference in terms of either making it worse or better. On the other hand if the cause of your shoulder pain is a mattress and/or a pillow that isn’t suitable for your body type or sleeping style and you don’t have specific medical or physiological issues that are causing the pain then it’s certainly a sign that you probably need a new mattress or pillow.

While it’s not possible to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because they can be very complex and there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP or any “symptoms” they experience … 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.

A suitable pillow is an essential part of good alignment for the head and neck and upper body because the gap between the head and the mattress and the curve of the cervical spine needs to be supported just like all other parts of the spine. Like mattresses … there are certain “needs” that depend on body type and sleeping positions but with pillows, personal preferences play a more important role because the face is much more sensitive to textures, temperature, smells, and other more subjective “feel” based properties of a pillow. There is more about choosing pillows in the pillow thread here and the other topics and sources of information that it links to that may be helpful.

So that was my motivation to get started. I began researching and quickly became overwhelmed with the number of online mattresses that were available, and I had practically no way of discerning their differences (until I found this site, thank you!). What I ended up doing was filtering options based on what seemed to be an innovative technology or approach (I’m a scientist so I can’t help myself). That led me to shortlist the Purple bed, Luxisleep, and Helix. In retrospect this might not have been the smartest way to narrow down choices.

While I certainly agree that technology can be interesting … any specific technology may be beneficial or detrimental to how you sleep depending on the specifics of the technology and the mattress so “technology” alone certainly isn’t any guarantee that you will sleep well on a mattress in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences). The only way to know for certain how well you will sleep on any mattress will be based on your own personal experience.

Anyhow, I ordered the Purple bed because it seemed to be the most innovative and I could find very little online that further described the Luxi and Helix from a consumer’s perspective.

You’ve probably seen this already but there is more information about the Purple mattress and the buckling column gel they use (that they call a “hyperelastic polymer” to differentiate themselves from other mattresses that use buckling column gel) in post #2 here.

There are also some comments about the type and quality of the materials in the Luxisleep mattress in post #10 here and there are some comments about the type and quality of the materials the Helix mattress along with many of the other simplified choice mattresses in post #2 here in the simplified choice topic and post #1 in the same topic would be worth reading as well. Once again … with or without “technology” … the only way to know for certain how you will sleep on any mattress will be based on your own personal experience.

Initial impression: The Purple bed was really unique - you can definitely feel the honeycomb structure of the hyperelastic polymer layer but it isn’t at all offputting.

While buckling column gel certainly has some unique properties … the “feel” of the buckling column gel is something that some people don’t mind and that other people don’t particularly like (particularly when they move or change positions). Many manufacturers that use buckling column gel as a comfort layer will put a relatively thin foam layer on top of the buckling column gel to help even out the “feel” of the buckling columns.

The bed initially felt very conforming while also being a much firmer feel than the innerspring + memory foam topper I was used to sleeping on. I have to say that I really loved the “bounce” and feel of this mattress. The first two nights were magic - my partner and I hardly woke up during the night and in the mornings we had no pain. We even felt much more rested and energetic during the day. But something that had me worried from the beginning was that when we checked our spinal alignment on this bed (both of us are side sleepers) neither of us were well-aligned. Our spines would slope up about 20 degrees or so starting at around our shoulders with a pillow. Our shoulders just don’t seem to “sink” in enough to align the spine. The deviation from correct alignment was slightly less bad if we checked without a pillow and just held our heads up, so maybe we need a new pillow to actually be aligned in this bed?

It’s certainly possible that your pillow may be too thin to keep your head and neck in good alignment but it’s also possible that the comfort layers in the mattress aren’t thick/soft enough to allow your shoulders to sink in far enough as well. I would keep in mind that the buckling column gel is only 2" thick so the other layers and components in the mattress will also have an effect on how your shoulders sink into a mattress. Either way … good alignment is the single most important factor in how well you sleep over the course of the night.

Starting after the third night, and persisting to now (about 1.5 weeks) I have been having my shoulder pain return. It is a little different from before, and if I have my partner point out the part of my spine where it begins to slope upwards, it pretty much pinpoints the pain. I’m feeling it much more on my left side than on my right, and I’m now starting to get some lumbar and lower back pain. My partner is similarly beginning to feel his mid and lower back pain return. I will say the pain is significantly less than with the original mattress, but still very much a problem. I ordered two new pillows to see if that would improve the situation, but if that doesn’t work then I’m going to need to go back to the drawing board. It’s just so weird to me that the bed was performing so well for us the first couple nights :(.

It’s not unusual that a new mattress can make a difference for a short time even if it doesn’t keep you in the best alignment because your alignment will be different from your previous mattress and sometimes change itself (even if it isn’t a “good” change") can make a difference in how you sleep for a short time because it may help relieve the primary issue on your old mattress and it may take a little time for any new issues to “show up”.

There will be a break in and adjustment period for any new mattress or sleeping system as the mattress loses any of it’s “false firmness” and the cover stretches and loosens a little and the materials settle and your body gets used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to (see post #3 here). This could typically be a few weeks but it can be shorter or longer depending on the specifics of the person and the mattress (higher density materials can take longer) and it can be surprising to some people how much their sleeping experience can change over the course of the first few weeks.

I guess here I’ll just re-confirm - as a side sleeper I should be sleeping on a bed that keeps my spine perfectly straight, correct?

Your spine needs to be in “neutral” alignment where the mattress does most of the work involved in keeping you in good alignment instead of tension in your muscles and ligaments but in real life it’s not realistic to expect that it will be “ruler straight” because there will generally be some relatively small and gentle curves in your spine that don’t affect how well you sleep. Of course this can vary from person to person and some people are more flexible and are closer to the “I can sleep on anything” end of the range and others may be closer to the “princess and the pea” end of the range but “as straight as possible” is the goal.

Next steps: I’m still considering the luxisleep mattress, I can’t help but admire their innovation, and it strikes me that the different firmness options might increase the chance of getting proper alignment. I’m also now taking a step back from overly prioritizing innovative designs and putting more value on super high quality materials. In that regard I’m considering Brooklyn Bedding for the degree of latex and the inclusion of higher quality polyfoam in the base.

As you probably know the Brooklyn Bedding BestMattressEver is a great quality/value choice that uses very durable materials but again the only way to know for certain how well you will sleep on any mattress will be based on your own personal experience.

I’m also considering trying to find a local store where I might be able to try more beds, but considering that it took a few nights of sleeping on the Purple to realize its problems I’m not sure how much I can trust an initial “feel” anymore. I’m not really aware of any good non-chain mattress stores in Boston, but if anyone here can share a location I’d be very appreciative.

This makes a lot of sense to me regardless of whether you end up buying a mattress locally or online. Some local testing will give you some experience and reference points about the type of materials and mattresses you tend to prefer and the general firmness level that tends to work best for you.

while nothing has a 100% success rate … with a local purchase and for the majority of people … careful testing using the guidelines in the tutorial (rather than just testing for the more subjective “comfort” of a mattress which often won’t predict how well you will sleep on a mattress or how it will “feel” when you sleep on it at home) along with some good guidance from a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests in mind will usually result in a mattress choice that is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and will generally be “close enough” so that if any fine tuning is necessary it would be relatively minor and involve different mattress pads, sheets, mattress protectors, or perhaps even a topper if a mattress is too firm (see post #4 here and post #10 here).

There is also more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for in post #2 here.

Any specific mattress may be the “best” match for a relatively small percentage of people, a “good” match for a larger percentage, and an “OK” match for a larger percentage yet but the only way to know for certain whether the mattress you end up choosing will be a “good enough” match for you to keep it (even if it isn’t the “best match” out of all the mattresses that you “could have tried” instead) will be based on careful testing and/or your own personal experience when you sleep on it.

One of the advantages of trying mattresses locally is that you can try many different types and styles and firmness levels and compare them to each other in “real time” based on your actual experience rather than just “theory” instead of trying one mattress and not knowing how it compares to the other mattresses that you could have tried or purchased instead.

Of course many online mattresses have a good trial period and return policy so you can try them in your bedroom instead of a showroom with little risk (outside of the time you spend sleeping on it and/or returning it if that becomes necessary or any costs involved in the return process) so if it’s not a “good enough” match for you you can just return it and try another mattress although of course you won’t know whether it would have been better or worse or how it compares to other mattresses that you could have tried that you haven’t tried in person.

Subject to first confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list that you wish to visit is completely transparent (see this article) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your criteria and the quality/value guidelines here … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Boston area are listed in post #2 here.

In its simplest form choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …

1. Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.

2. Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.

3. Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

Phoenix